


Lord of the Howling Dark

by DragonTamerOne



Series: Blue's Halo Character Insert [3]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Deviates From Canon, Game: Halo 4, Gen, The Ethics of AI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 68,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23691466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonTamerOne/pseuds/DragonTamerOne
Summary: After the showdown on the Ark, the High Prophet of Truth was defeated, but the ship carrying the Master Chief and Cortana was split by a slipspace rupture, and since then the two have been lost. Now, it has been years since the event, and they are presumed dead.But unlike before, they were not the only ones lost to slipspace. The energized artificial intelligence, the one who resembles a black tiger, was lost along with them. And he's determined to get everyone home alive, despite the fact that he's used to being ordered around, not the one making decisions.But doing so means navigating the hostile terrain of Requiem, upon which they crash-land. The story follows canon, but it explores more - what does it mean to gain responsibility? Is decision-making, is leadership, an ingrained trait, or can it be learned? And what does it mean to be an AI during all this? Can artificial intelligence constructs really expect to be treated equally? Can they lead? Or will they always be seen as inferior?
Relationships: Cortana & John-117 | Master Chief, Original Male Character & Cortana & the Chief
Series: Blue's Halo Character Insert [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590928
Kudos: 5





	1. Preamble

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to part 3 of my fic series. This one has a different atmosphere than the other two. I don't have much else to say about it. I believe the best experience of the story is your own, not mine, so I won't say much. Simply, enjoy.

Preamble

What? I have to write this one? Ugh, fine.  
Hey y’all, this is not, in fact, Blue talking. This is me, the large, robotic black tiger. Yes, me, the relatively-unimportant side character. When you round things up, I really haven’t done that much.  
Well, you would know that if you read Part 1. If you haven’t read Part 1 and you want to, TURN BACK NOW BECAUSE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW.  
…  
…  
…  
Are they gone yet?  
...  
How about now?  
...  
Oh, good. Thank goodness. I was about to fall asleep waiting for them.  
Anywho, if you don’t care about Part 1, and you didn’t read it, then you probably have no idea who I am. Or who Blue is. But pish-tosh on her, this story is about me.  
My name is BTS; no, I don’t listen to K-pop. It’s an acronym. It stands for whatever the hell I want it to. I am an artificial intelligence construct housed inside a robotic, feline form roughly the size of a small horse. Not a pony, a small horse. I was designed, by Blue, to be the ultimate combat vehicle. I’ve got claws, I’ve got teeth, I’ve got guns, I can breathe fire, I can fly, and so on. Wow, I made myself sound like a dragon there.  
So that’s me. I’m the sidekick. I was never supposed to be the hero. I did what Blue told me to do. So when she lied her way into the Covenant and cut contact with our home nation in favor of protecting High Charity, I just went with it. I made up a past that fit hers and rolled with it. I lived the lie just like she did. I didn’t care. I just went with it.  
She exposed the lies of the Prophets and warned the Sangheili about the impending genocide. She helped them survive the Schism, and when the Flood jumped into High Charity, I burned their contaminated dropships out of the sky while she very nearly gave her life to keep the infected In Amber Clad from crashing into the city. And when we followed the Prophet of Truth through the portal to the Ark, I was with her as we hijacked a ship and coerced its crew into helping us get the Forerunner Dreadnought back. I pushed a Phantom into hyperspace in order to get us to the Citadel in time to stop Truth. I carried a Warthog through hyperspace in order to give her and the people she’d picked up along the way an escape from the destruction of the Citadel. I severely damaged my hyperdrive, to the point where I couldn’t fix it anymore.  
And then, the ship we were escaping on split in two, and I became utterly alone.  
Well, not utterly. But without her. Without her guidance. Without her telling me what to do and when to do it.  
I was never supposed to be the hero.  
I still don’t think that I am.  
~


	2. 3.1: The Wreck Pt. 1

3.1: The Wreck Pt. 1

The alarms stopped going off once BTS fried their circuits. Otherwise, he was sure they’d never shut up.  
They’d been spat out of the slipspace portal at an unknown location. The ship had been sheared in half. All BTS knew was that, wherever they were, they were out of reach of Blue’s telepathy.  
That was a bit frightening. Yes, he was well aware that her powers were restricted. But her reach was still vast. So they had to be really, really far from her. And really, really far from anything else.  
His hyperspace drive was completely, one-hundred-percent broken from his shenanigans on the Ark. They were stuck, wherever they were.  
“If we lock the exterior doors, the internal atmosphere should return,” Cortana said to the tiger. The AI was in the corvette’s systems, trying to figure out how to restore the half of a ship to the best condition they could muster.  
“Too bad the bridge is gone,” Cortana’s Spartan buddy had survived the accident (unsurprisingly). The rest of the crew had died when the vessel had lost atmosphere, some getting sucked out of the ship. Cleaning up the bodies had been taxing.  
“I can lock the doors, once I hack through the encryptions,” Cortana told him. “Which, for me, will only take a few minutes.”  
“I’ll let you do that,” BTS replied with a yawn. He was still low on power from the battle on the Ark, and was feeling too lazy to do anything not critical.  
The rear half of the ship that had been sheared off by the slipspace event was more like a rear third, so they weren’t left with too much room. Already, the tiger had scouted the entire wreck, and identified all the exterior doors, along with the Chief’s help. Clicking sounds echoed through the ship as Cortana accessed the doors and shut them.  
“There,” the AI said, satisfied. “Atmosphere should be returning.”  
Breathable air would be nice (not that BTS needed it, but maybe the Spartan would? He didn’t know, those weren’t the kind of questions he asked). However, that didn’t solve the problem that they were floating in space in a broke-ass ship that also happened to no longer have any gravity.  
There was also the problem of having a biological life form onboard. There wasn’t anything in the way of sustainable food on the ship, or much of anything fit for a living creature. They’d have to figure some way to preserve the Spartan until it was safer for him. The tiger knew the UNSC used cryo, and there appeared to be cryo systems of some sort already around the ship, so the Covenant must have used it too. He plus Cortana could probably figure something out from what they had.  
He also suspected he knew a bit about what would happen next. It wasn’t like he had calculated their trajectory after being spat from the broken slipspace portal, but he just had an itching feeling. Their story wasn’t going to end here.  
 _But now...upgraded with the knowledge and ability that I possess, can I handle the full effect of the ten-thousand ton butterfly that we’ve created?  
I’m alone now. We’re all alone.  
I’m beyond the stars._  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“With the cooling systems redirected like this, we won’t be able to run the engines,” Cortana cautioned as BTS worked to connect together the pipes and lines of their homemade (or rather shipwreck-made) cryo system together.  
“I know,” the tiger replied. “I thought about that too, but the time it would take us to get the engines working, on the teeny-tiny chance that’s even possible, would be too much. You and I can live on this ship infinitely. And I have faith that Blue will find us, eventually.”  
“You still can’t call her?” Cortana asked.  
He shook his head. “She’s still out of range. We’re very far from her, wherever she is. I just hope she made it home safely.”  
He was very good at pushing nagging thoughts out of his mind, but the idea that Blue, the person who created him, could be dead clung on like a leech.  
“If my hyperdrive wasn’t broken, I could’ve just made the jump home, brought you guys with me, and we’d be all hunky dory,” the tiger grumbled. “Buuuuuuuuut that’s not the case. Whatever damages were inflicted aren’t self-reparable. The whole thing’s toast.”  
His realspace engines had also gone down on the Ark, resulting in him having to run on the ground instead of flying, while the Arbiter rode on his back to escape the explosion of the Citadel. He and Blue had done the same thing plenty of times, but carrying the Arbiter had been like carrying two or three of her at the same time. Not that it had slowed down him at all. He’d carried a full-on Warthog through hyperspace, for goodness sakes. And then broke his hyperdrive.  
Anyways, back to the point. The damages to his realspace engines were repairing themselves, something he loved about himself. Light damages would self-repair without Blue having to manually fix his systems. But, even with fully-repaired engines, he wasn’t getting anywhere from this damn shipwreck.  
“I’ve got faith that you guys aren’t going to turn me into an ice cube,” the Chief was also helping them construct the cryo system. “Don’t disappoint me.”  
“I know every detail of UNSC-grade cryo systems,” Cortana replied. “What we can’t make out of parts from this ship, BTS created with his tech, and I’ve been running tests on the system nonstop. You’ll be fine.”  
“Good engineering never fails unless the user does,” BTS said. “And I’m not one to fail at anything. My tech is great. It’s like magic.”  
“Magic is not really a word we use to describe understandable, scientific things,” the Chief replied. “In other words, magic is not a reassuring word. But if Cortana says it’ll work, I’ll believe her.”  
“It’ll work,” the tiger and the AI chorused, the former rolling his eyes.  
“It’s not magic,” the tiger added. “It’s energetics. One-hundred-percent supported by science. Just not science you humans can understand yet.”  
“I won’t let you use this system until I’m sure it won’t fail,” Cortana reassured the Spartan.  
BTS crouched, energetic mind feeding wires under the mess of lines and cables behind their homemade cryo tank. He started fiddling with the wall circuits to integrate the system into the power grid.  
“There!” he said. “System is online.” He backed out of the tangle, careful not to tug on anything.  
“I’ll run some final tests, and then we’ll be good,” Cortana said. The AI vanished from the holotank at the side of the room, and entered the system to make sure everything was functional.  
BTS sat down and yawned, casually showing off his six-inch teeth. Gosh, he was still so damn tired.  
It was going to be a boring few years after this.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“That’s the last of the circuits we can repair, at the moment,” Cortana reported to BTS through the speakers in a nearby holotank. “It’s not perfect, but at least we’ll have gravity in part of the ship. I’d never thought I’d get this in-depth with Covenant flight technology.”  
“Me neither,” the tiger agreed, “but I didn’t ask to get stranded in the middle of space and picked up by a somewhat-hostile frigate that turned out to be Covenant. But hey, I think it turned out better for everyone, in the end. Hopefully.”  
“How did you come across the Covenant?” Cortana asked curiously.  
BTS inhaled through clenched teeth. “I don’t know if Blue’d wanna let me tell you guys some of this stuff, cause, ya’know, you guys are sneaky. And I can’t read your minds like she can.” He didn’t want to say too much, in case it clashed with something Blue had told them. She could’ve lied, on purpose, about anything. She wasn’t here to guide him. And Cortana was smart. She would remember if BTS’s information conflicted with what Blue had said. One slip up, and all the lies Blue had tried to bury could suddenly seem a lot closer.  
“I won’t tell anyone anything,” Cortana promised. “You can trust me.”  
BTS sighed dramatically. “I guess...We suffered a minor malfunction in Aethon - our ship’s - engines that caused us to drop from hyperspace and become stagnant. The Covenant frigate captained by one fabulous Shipmaster Roc ‘Ayanam came across us because the restraints in Blue’s wrists set of their Luminaries. Did Blue explain her restraints?”  
“A little bit. She showed me her memories.” Was the AI being purposefully vague?  
BTS nodded. “She’s got a metal bar in each wrist that are all that remains of her imprisonment. They still prevent her from accessing her full power.”   
“Why’d she get imprisoned in the first place?” Cortana asked. “She explained it a bit...I saw memories of her protesting something the Forerunners were doing, and then her own people left her?”  
“She got involved in this big civil disobedience thing, because the Forerunners had gotten suspicious of our kind and weren’t being so nice anymore,” BTS replied. “She wanted peaceful relations without having to leave the galaxy, like many of the Lupa did. They, uh…the Ascendants took up those restraints to keep the Forerunners happy.”  
“That would include you?” Cortana questioned.  
BTS hunched. “Oh, no, not me. I’m not an Ascendant. Blue created me. I just do whatever I have the mechanical bits to do. I’m nowhere near Ascendant-power.”  
“What’s your story?” Cortana asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”  
BTS dug his front paws into the ground and stretched, taking a purposeful pause to think over what he should say next. Blue, Aethon, and him had laid out what their faux past was, but not in that much detail.  
“It’s not the greatest of stories...nothing heroic, like Blue’s, saving a whole planet or anything,” he drawled. “I wasn’t the best guy in my youth, after I was created. I was sly, cunning, and of course very handsome and very intelligent, but I was in it for my own good.” He flipped a paw around, admiring his gleaming claws. “I was more handsome than I am now, as hard to believe as that is.”  
Cortana visibly rolled her eyes.  
“Anyways,” the tiger continued, “I was supposed to help Blue, but I was bad at following orders. Also, they didn’t like my sense of humor. Or my language. We had some rough spots.”  
“We’ve had people do stuff like that before in history,” Cortana said reassuringly. “I’m sure you weren’t that bad.  
BTS shrugged. “Eh. They took my voice away at one point because I swore too much.”  
“I guess that makes sense,” Cortana still sounded slightly uncertain. “Harsh, but…”  
“People are weird,” the tiger drawled. “I’m just some guy who made a lot of bad decisions and one good one. My life is this business, until the day this mechanical body fails and I move on. If the day comes where peace is held in the galaxy by every individual, there won’t be a need for Ascendants anymore. People like Blue, I mean.”  
“Maybe you’ll live to see that,” Cortana mused. “It sure sounds nice. Peace…”  
BTS looked around. “Anyways...we got other things to fix?”  
“Yeah, there’s a small breach on the port side,” Cortana said. “Seems like something hit us and made a hole. It’d be nice if we could figure out how to get the energy shields working, if at all…”  
The tiger grimaced a bit once the AI left the room. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to mess up everything Blue had fabricated for them in this world.  
 _I really hope somebody finds us soon._  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	3. 3.2: The Wreck Pt. 2

3.2: The Wreck Pt. 2

“Let’s not tell the Chief of this.”  
BTS sat down heavy, exhaling with an agreeably shake of his head. He and Cortana had just nearly avoided a possibly-catastrophic shutdown of their homemade cryo chamber when their section of the corvette had collided with a stray space rock.  
“Agreed,” he muttered. The damages wouldn’t have killed the Chief (probably), but it would’ve definitely woken him up, and left them without a functional cryo chamber.  
He shook his head again, frowning with slitted eyes. It had been over three months since they’d been stranded. It was only a fraction of the time he was worried they’d be spending on the ship.  
He wanted to hibernate, to pass the time, but he knew he couldn’t. Cortana needed him to help monitor the ship and the cryo system, and he was her only source of company. He knew isolation could be damaging to human minds. What if human AIs worked the same way?  
“I hate this damn ship,” he muttered. “Why couldn’t it have gone a tiny bit faster, and not gotten split in half?”  
“Seems the Chief’s luck ran out,” Cortana replied quietly. “I wish the same thing had happened, BTS.”  
“Blue will be looking for us,” he was sure. “I hope she finds us soon.”  
“Do you have any way to help her find us?” Cortana asked.  
BTS cocked his head, thinking deeply. “I’m not designed for long-distance traditional communications, since telepathy usually suffices, and I only need to communicate with ships and stations over relatively short distances. But, maybe I could rig something up that could send out a signal that she’d instantly recognize as from me.”  
“Tell me what we need, and I’ll find it,” Cortana promised. “Maybe is better than nothing.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“There; that should do it.”  
BTS admired his work, a makeshift superluminal transmitter hashed out of pieces from around the ship and his miniaturized fabricator. Cortana had tested it, and it seemed to be working.  
“This will transmit my distress signals through hyperspace, and drop it out to realspace at random intervals,” he said. “The pattern of sub-and super-light speed should cover the galaxy in a sphere and ensure that Blue receives the signal, eventually. Both she and Aethon have wide receptive distances for this type of signal, so they should catch it.”  
The signal would be sent in energetic and standard forms, so hopefully human or Sangheili allies could get it as well. The energetic signal, however, would travel faster in hyperspace than the standard signal. A lot faster.  
The signals contained a message, detailing the date at which the message was sent, the nature of its travel (so a receiver could determine how far the signal had travelled based on how old it was), and BTS’s best estimate of location and vector. Hopefully, putting the age of the signal, its location of origin, and the ship’s vector together would result in the ship’s current location upon reception of the message.  
With the energetic signal, Blue would be able to retrace it to its origin. The signal would send in regular intervals, and the difference in the locations of origin of the intervals would determine the ship’s vector.  
“I sure hope this works,” Cortana said. “Otherwise this could be our last hurrah.”  
“I’ve got faith,” the tiger grumbled. “I just don’t know if I have the patience.”  
“You have to,” Cortana scolded him. “If you survived multiple lifetimes already, you can survive this.”  
“True,” BTS muttered self-consciously, flicking his ears. “I won’t pretend I liked those lifetimes, though.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Let’s agree to never, ever mention to the Chief that this happened.”  
BTS was sitting in the middle of their mess of cables and wires, trying to catch his breath. Cortana’s holograph was hovering anxiously on her pedestal, monitoring the cryosystem to make sure it was back to working.  
A comet had almost hit the wreckage, the two things hurtling through space past each other like cars on a crash course. The ship’s sensors were mostly offline, and Cortana only detected the comet once it was practically on top of them. It had barely missed them, but had done its damages just by being nearby. The comet had been throwing out a lot of radiation, which threatened to catastrophically damage the cryosystem they’d constructed, since the unshielded energetic-tech-based parts were vulnerable. Only by swift response had they been able to save the system, and at a cost. The array that BTS had constructed to send out long-range signals he hoped Blue would detect had been damaged by the radiation. He had to choose between saving the Chief and saving his radio; he chose the Chief.  
He had yet to look at the damages to the array. He knew they would be bad.  
“It knocked out your radio,” Cortana told him.  
“I know,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Damn comet…”  
She was silent, looking down at her feet. He didn’t feel much like conversation either, and felt faintly guilty about that. The AI lady seemed lonely.  
“I might be able to fix it,” he said after a long period of silence. “I’ll look at it later.”  
“Ok,” Cortana replied quietly.  
BTS flattened his ears unhappily. “I mean…it’s not our last chance.”  
Cortana nodded. “I know. But it was our best one.”  
He could tell she was worried. Well, her best friend had almost just died. She had a right to be worried.  
“What do you think has happened while we’ve been gone?” she asked quietly. “It’s been a while now.”  
BTS tilted his head. “Well, if I know Blue, she’ll have all of High Charity holding hands and singing kumbaya by now. She’s got this way about her that makes people less…aggravated.” He mixed a bit of humor into his words, hoping to lift the mood.  
Cortana smiled weakly. “You think so?”  
“Well, you’ve met her,” BTS reasoned. “There’s nobody like her. She exudes calm like a hurricane does rain. And she’s not even her true self, with her power restrained as it is.”  
“What was she like, before she agreed to have her power limited?” the AI asked.  
“She could move landscapes with a wave of her hand,” BTS replied airily. He waved his paw in a circle. “She could stir the sky with her hand and create storms. She could crack a mountain in two. But she never used her powers for destruction. Her entire life was dedicated to protecting her people and their lands.”  
“But what was she like?” Cortana repeated the question.  
“Like?” BTS figured out what she was asking. “Oh, not quite unlike she is now. But…more ethereal, I guess is the only word to describe it. She looks upon every living thing like she can speak to it. And even some unliving things too. And when you’re around her, everything is clearer. The superficial and trivial go away.”  
“Is it like being a god?” Cortana asked.  
BTS tilted his head. “Well, the word “god” is subjective. I mean, I don’t consider myself very godly. Yeah, I can do all this shit and break the laws of physics and whatnot, but I ain’t no totem to be worshipped. I don’t deserve that kind of praise. Maybe she does, but you’d have to have that discussion with her yourself.”  
“Hmmm…” Cortana seemed thoughtful, and BTS really, really wished he could read her mind.  
“You want to know for any particular reason?” he asked cautiously.  
“To be a god…” was all that Cortana responded with.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
BTS was pretty sure the AI lady was lonely. Why else would she be talking to herself so much?  
He felt kinda bad, since he was her only company. But he felt like he was already doing a lot to be good company. Well, at least he thought so.  
Or maybe she was bored. There wasn’t much to do on the ship; everything fixable had been pretty much fixed. Most of the ship wasn’t fixable. That left very little to fiddle with. BTS knew he was bored; all he did was lay around in a half-awake state and twitch his tail. Sometimes, Cortana would talk to him. She asked a lot of questions; she was damn curious about practically everything. Many of the questions were getting to a point where BTS felt they were a little intrusive, even. But he tolerated them, and tried to be polite whenever he had to decline one of them.  
He rolled onto his back, staring up at the purplish ceiling. “Why purple?” he asked.  
Cortana’s avatar popped up in a nearby holotank. “All of the Covenant’s client species have different visual perceptions when it comes to color. Purple must’ve been agreeable for all of them, I guess.”  
“Hmmmph,” BTS grumbled. “Well, I guess I like purple too. Would never work as part of my aesthetic, though.”  
Cortana snorted, but didn’t say anything. BTS looked over at her; she was staring off into space, arms wrapped nervously around herself.  
 _Maybe she misses the Chief,_ BTS thought. _Yeah! That must be it. They’ve been up and down shit creek together, so many times it really should be called shit river by now. She’ll feel better once we’re out of this shipwreck and back on the ground._  
“Maybe they thought purple would make them blend into space..?” BTS offered to the very one-sided conversation.  
“I doubt they’d be that stupid,” Cortana replied. “Nobody spots your ship in space because they ‘see’ it.”  
BTS shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”  
“I wish there was more to do,” the AI said after a few moments of silence.  
BTS flicked his tail. “Me too. I’m bored out of my mind.”  
“The ship’s data systems are still partially functional,” Cortana said. “I was thinking of data mining them, to see if there’s anything useful left. Knowing more won’t hurt.”  
“That’s a good idea,” BTS agreed. “I can do more work to try and get the relay back online, though I’ll have to make new parts. There’s nothing left in this ship to replace what got broken.”  
“Whatever is helpful,” Cortana told him, and vanished.  
BTS sighed, rolling back onto his belly so he could stand. Repairing the relay had been a lost cause so far, but he could try again. Might as well; there was nothing better to do.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	4. 3.3: Captured

3.3: Captured

BTS didn’t consider himself much of a sleeper. He could, like Blue, but usually chose not to. You snooze, you lose, was his philosophy. But nothing had made him wish he could just snore away a few years than being stuck on half a wreck of a Covenant corvette with a frozen man and a holographic lady who was slowly going insane.  
He blamed it on her separation from hers truly, the fantastic Master Chief, who was said frozen man. Energetic computers didn’t go crazy because of their age. Energetic AI...well, he was one of the only examples of such. And while he was bored, he certainly didn’t feel like he was losing it. Who’d expect him to come to that solution? Cortana just seemed so damn realistic that her emotions could actually affect her behavior in drastic ways, just like with real humans.  
Either way, he had stayed awake through the years because he knew he needed to. If something happened, he was their only defense. Even with a broken hyperdrive, he was necessary. And, well, he felt bad about leaving Cortana with no company.  
He was sure as hell thankful that he wasn’t asleep when June of 2557 rolled around.  
The entire ship was jostled by a hard impact, rocketing BTS to his feet like lightning. He rumbled low in his throat, switching his vision to thermal. Immediately, he saw lots of very bad things.  
“We’re under attack!” he growled, baring his teeth. “Someone found us! And they don’t seem friendly!”  
“I guess the Covenant is still hanging around on the edges,” Cortana commented over the comms. “Or maybe things didn’t go well after the Ark.”  
BTS swept his vision over the entire room, using thermal to see where the boarding parties were. “We’ve got fifteen bogies on board, and that number is about to increase!” he yelled.  
“We’ve got to wake the Chief!” Cortana replied hurriedly.  
“Rodger dodger,” BTS growled, and ran from the room.  
Their improvised cryosystem was only a hallway away from his position, thankfully. Cortana, travelling through the network, was already there.  
“Cross your fingers the wakeup sequence works,” the tiger grumbled.  
“It should,” Cortana replied. “We tested this thing extensively.”  
“Here goes nothing, then” the tiger growled, and put his paw to the port that let him interact with the machine.  
Cortana was with him, ready to deactivate the system. Another impact shook the ship as the second boarding craft hit home.  
“Why are they boarding?” Cortana yelled. “We’ve got no shields. They could’ve just blown us to pieces in seconds!”  
“I think they know we’re here,” BTS replied grimly. “And we’re more important than just some random chumps.”  
The cryosystem began the shutdown sequence, directed by BTS and Cortana. Despite the beating they’d been through the past few years, through comets, asteroids, and electrical failures, the system, safe within an interior room, had stayed strong.  
“Wake up, Chief,” BTS heard Cortana say.  
“This better not take too long,” BTS growled, looking over his shoulder. “They’re coming for us.” His mind was racing, trying to think up a plan.  
“Well, want to discuss a plan of action in the meantime?” Cortana offered. She was on the same brainwave as him.  
BTS backed away from the system. “Sure, but I have a feeling you’re not going to like my idea.”  
“Crazy is ok,” Cortana replied. “I like crazy.”  
 _Oooooooh dear,_ BTS thought. “We’re being boarded because they know we’re here. Or, at least they know I’m here. I’m not cloaked. While I don’t produce waste heat, I still have a pretty unique thermal signature. And it’s quite possible our friends out there know exactly which ship this is. And seeing how they’re waving weapons around, I don’t think they’re here to rescue us.”  
“And?” Cortana demanded. “This all means what?”  
“That they aren’t here to kill us,” BTS told her. “They want us alive.”  
“Why?” Cortana questioned. “That’s not like them.”  
“Well, for starters, you have a lot of data I’m sure they’d want,” BTS reasoned. “And do you have any idea how much I’m worth to Blue? How much the Chief is worth to the UNSC? These baddies may have the notion they’d be able to get ransom for us. Or see us useful for something else. A trade-off, leverage. They’re risking their own men to come get us. Why do that when a couple of plasma torpedoes would have sufficed?”  
Cortana was quiet, considering the idea, which BTS could tell she didn’t like; she didn’t believe that they wouldn’t be straight up killed once the Covenant faction got to them.  
BTS heard some garbled grumbling, and a loud thunk. The Chief had punched the case around his cryotank. He was awake, but confused.  
“Chief!” Cortana called. “How’re you feeling?”  
“Where...where are we?” he muttered.  
“Don’t have a clue,” Cortana blatantly admitted. “But we’re under attack, and we need your help.”  
“We can’t leave you here,” BTS said, peering into the tank. “Nor can we hold in this room with you still in cryo. Plasma weaponry plus sensitive machinery never goes well.”  
“We need to move,” Cortana urged.   
“Do we?” BTS questioned. He reached over to the cryotank and hit the switch that opened the front.  
“I don’t like your plan!” Cortana yelled back.  
As they were arguing, the Chief was trying to pick his way out of their mess of a cryosystem. He seemed to still be a little foggy from waking up after his years-long nap. He tried to step away from the machine, stumbled, and fell down. Both BTS and Cortana shut up, the tiger’s head whipping around.  
“I don’t feel so good,” the Spartan grumbled.  
“Oh dear,” Cortana said. “It seems that the cryosleep is having lingering effects.”  
“Well, I’d say we’re lucky enough the thing held together for this long anyways,” BTS announced. “We can’t get completely lucky.”  
Something thumped very near to the room. The tiger swore, jumping around. An energetic shimmer crossed over the mouths of the two hallways leading to the room.  
“I’ve blocked us in,” he said. The Chief attempted a second time to get up, and failed. Cortana swore from the holotank she’d popped up in.  
BTS looked levelly at the holotank. “Our choices are running thin, Cortana.”  
“I still don’t like your plan!” she yelled back.  
“What plan?” the Chief asked.  
“BTS here thinks the boarders are here to capture us rather than kill us,” Cortana explained. “He thinks they’ll just sashay in here real nice and ask us to come with them.”  
“I did not put it that way!” the tiger barked. “I came to my conclusion because they boarded instead of simply blowing up this wreck. I don’t see why that’s unreasonable!”  
“What if they just wanted to search around?” Cortana yelled back. “What if they don’t know we’re here?”  
“They do now,” BTS growled, looking over his shoulder. Three Sangheili and a contingent of Unggoy were advancing on the shielded door, guns up.  
The Chief looked completely done with their bullshit, shaking his head. “If this is what your conversations have been like for the past four years, then I’m glad I missed them.”  
“Cortana, we can’t let them know you’re with us,” BTS said in low.  
“Pick her up,” the Chief ordered. “I can’t get to her.”  
The tiger backed away from the doorway, out of sight. He scurried to the terminal they’d inserted Cortana’s chip into, and removed it. It was incredibly small in his massive paw.  
“You got a place to hide that?” the Chief asked.  
BTS nodded. He opened his mouth wide; holding the chip delicately in two fingers, claws sheathed, he inserted the chip behind the flamethrower apparatus in his mouth. A small cavity opened up, accepting the item, and the chip vanished down the back of his throat.  
 _Can you hear me?  
Yes.  
Cool beans; I didn’t know if that would work. You’re in a storage cavity in my mouth that houses software chips, usually. Really nice for stealing and smuggling downloaded information.  
You sly cat._  
“She’ll be safe,” BTS promised. “If anyone finds out she’s here, they’ll have to get by these to get to her.” He bared his teeth, showing off his six-inch canines.  
“Surrender, and you will not be killed!” one of the Sangheili yelled through the barrier.  
BTS trotted towards the door. “See? I was right.”  
“Whatchu want?” he asked through the barrier. “I’m not quite sure I can trust you.”  
“Surrender yourselves immediately!” the Sangheili angrily repeated. “If not, you will be utterly destroyed.”  
“Nah, you’ll be utterly destroyed,” BTS replied. He could talk big. He could take out a few of these ships on his own. But he was only one person, and his resources were limited. Eventually, he would be overpowered.  
“You are to be brought to the Supreme Leader, Jul ‘Mdama, alive,” the Sangheili continued curtly, ignoring the jab. “He requires you for a bargain.”  
“A bargain?” BTS questioned. “For what?”  
“None of your business!” the Sangheili snapped. “Now, surrender!”  
BTS looked over his shoulder at the Chief. “What say you, sir?”  
“You both are crazy,” he muttered. “Help me stand, will you?”  
BTS trotted over to him, offering his shoulder. Once he had something to lean on, he could move around decently fine.  
“I’m no use to the UNSC dead,” the Spartan said. “We’ll go with you.”  
BTS nodded. “Take us to this ‘Mdama guy.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	5. 3.4: Recharged

3.4: Recharged

By the time they got thrown in the brig, the Chief was shaking off most of the aftereffects of cryosleep. Cortana was pouting inside BTS’s head, refusing to talk to him. Well, she was talking, but not to the tiger. She was constantly muttering to herself, which was lowkey scaring him.  
He watched their escort clunk away through the barrier across the front of their cell. Once they were around the corner, he switched to thermal, did a quick scan for invisibros, and then turned to the Chief.  
“I never got a chance to explain the rest of my plan,” he said quietly. “The first part went splittingly well too, I will add.”  
“What’s the next part?” the Chief asked. He was sitting against the back wall; BTS could tell he was a bit bummed at being “captured”. All these dang people and their pride issues…  
“We hitch a free ride back to civilization on this ship,” the tiger said breezily. “Hopefully, we’ll end up somewhere that you-know-who recognizes. We get bearings, break out of the cell, and steal the ship. Tah-dah!”  
“And how do you propose to do that?” the Chief asked. He sounded like he wasn’t very confident in the plan.  
“This is a light cruiser,” BTS replied. “Not too many people aboard. We kill a few, now we’ve got weapons, and boom, ship is ours.”  
“I mean getting out of this cell,” the Chief cut him off before he could say anything else.  
“Oh!” the tiger exclaimed. “That’s easy. I just bust out.”  
The Chief didn’t reply, shaking his head and looking really, really disappointed.   
“What? You don’t believe I can do that?” the tiger questioned sincerely. His thermal spotted someone approaching, and he shut up before the conversation could be heard.  
The prison guards used active camouflage to monitor the cells, it seemed. The Chief, while he couldn’t see the Sangheili, could tell by BTS’s behavior that the tiger was watching someone.  
Once they were gone, BTS shook his head, stretched, yawned, and sat back down before continuing. “I can bust this barrier. Trust me. And that big, heavy door around the corner that leads out of here? Easy as pie to get through.”  
“I really hope you’re not bluffing just to make me feel better,” the Chief told him flatly.  
The tiger shook his head. “I’m not. I ain’t shitty like that.”  
He sensed a change in the atmosphere. “We’re jumping into slipspace.”  
 _Better be to somewhere good,_ Cortana grumbled grudgingly.  
The tiger laid down, resting his head on his paws. His head was pointed towards the barrier, so he could see everything that came near.  
The guards passed, it seemed, around every seventeen minutes. They were always hidden, though their thermal signatures were bright as ever. If they had figured out that BTS could still see them, they didn’t show it.  
He definitely couldn’t sleep now. A single moment’s slumber could change everything.  
 _I’m sorry I yelled at you on the ship._ Cortana was apologizing.  
BTS flicked an ear. _It’s no big deal. I’m not much of a gentleman either, as you know.  
I...I feel really bad about it. I was just worried. And...and scared. I hate not knowing what’s going on.  
I feel that. I wish I could read minds like Blue just about now. I wish I knew where we were going.  
Well, we’ll find out soon enough.  
Don’t fret yelling at me. I’m not offended.  
I...thank you. For understanding, I guess._  
There wasn’t much of a reply he could think of for her words, and she said nothing else, so they sat in silence.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was hard to gauge the passage of real-time while in slipspace. BTS used the appearance of prison-ration-toting Unggoy to guess how many days had passed. He could tell time decently well of instinct, but he wasn’t an atomic clock, that was for sure. At least they were feeding the Chief; he was thankful for that.   
It had been, by his best guess, near to four days so far. If his math was right, there would be another Unggoy in three, two, one...  
A group of four Sangheili rounded the corner, one of them looking to be higher-ranking than the rest. They stopped in front of the barrier, eyeing them coldly.  
“We require the presence of the Demon,” Mr. High Ranker said.  
BTS lifted his head from the ground. “Do you now?” his voice had a dangerous rumble to it.  
Mr. High Ranker wasn’t having the sass. He gestured curtly, and his contingent lifted their weapons. One of them moved to the right, to where BTS had seen a control panel.  
“Stand down, creature,” he ordered. “You will not stop us.”  
“What if I don’t want to?” BTS questioned, eyes narrow. “I don’t like the idea of you just waltzing in here and taking my buddy away from me.”  
“Is this really worth the effort?” the Chief questioned from the back of the cell.  
“Shush,” BTS told him. “You aren’t going anywhere.”  
“Didn’t say I was,” the Chief replied, sounding annoyed.   
“Enough of this!” the Sangheili barked. “Apprehend the Demon!”  
The barrier across the front of the cell dropped. BTS snarled and lunged, a closed fist striking one of the Sangheili underlings and sending him tumbling back. Energy jumped from his lifted paw, arcing across the room to contact the surface of the control panel. The barrier reappeared across the cell, and the control panel itself exploded into sparks, holograms vanishing.  
The Sangheili at the panel cursed, stepping back. The terminal had become nonfunctional. The knocked Sangheili slowly sat up, groaning.  
Mr. High Ranker whipped his head around angrily, eyeing the broken terminal. “You choose to delay us, creature. Fine; that is your choice. But if the Demon will not be allowed to leave his cell, then he will not eat.” He whipped around curtly and stomped away, his crew following him.  
“Great job,” the Chief said sarcastically. “You’ve trapped us in here. Without food.”  
BTS scanned for invisibros before continuing. “Not quite,” he chuckled, putting a claw to his temple. A thin, blue line appeared, running from the side of his head, through the barrier, and out to the ruined terminal.  
“I only destroyed their controls,” he explained. “The function of the terminal still works, otherwise the barrier would be permanently down, I would think.” A pulse of blue ran down the line, and the barrier dropped. Another pulse, and it came back up.  
“I’ve established mental contact with the terminal,” he continued. “You can think of it as another limb, I guess, just not a physical one. It allows me to control the terminal from a distance, so I can lower this barrier whenever I wish.” his voice was tinged with glee at how proud he was of his work.  
He spotted incoming invisibros, and paused until they were gone. “They’ve made it easier for me. Originally, I was gonna have to bust through the barrier with brute force. Now, I can just put it down.” He put his paw down, and the blue line vanished. “I can’t establish contact through barriers, because initial contact requires me to throw a physical quantum of energy into the terminal. Only Blue can contact things off pure mental power, and only sometimes. But it’s very strenuous for her, with her powers limited.”  
“I guess I’ve underestimated you,” the Chief said. “I’ve never worked with one of your kind before.”  
BTS waved a dismissive paw. “It’s all fine, bro. We energetic AI constructs are a talented bunch. And I can be very complicated,” he added, inspecting his claws pretentiously.  
 _You’re so vain,_ Cortana muttered.  
“That is true,” BTS acknowledged. He pointed to his mouth. “She says I’m vain.”  
“Well, she’s not wrong,” the Chief muttered. BTS chuckled, shaking his head.  
“With the barrier down, I can go search for food for the rest of the trip,” he told the Chief. “So joke’s on the aliens.”  
“Why’d you stop them anyways?” the Chief questioned. “We have no idea why they were here.”  
“But I can make an educated guess,” BTS reasoned. “They took us alive. ‘Mdama wants us for a bargain. Or something. But they don’t have to be telling us the truth. For all we know, this ship could be heading for Kig-Yar pirates. And I think they’re looking for Cortana.”  
 _Why?_ Cortana asked.  
“Because you’re the smartest of smart AIs out there, and you know so many really, really classified things,” BTS replied. “You could give this faction the ability to know way too much. And plus, people like you. That alone turns you into leverage.”  
Cortana huffed angrily, but didn’t reply.  
“So you’re thinking they think I have Cortana?” the Chief asked.  
BTS nodded. “That’s what I think. And if they find out you don’t have Cortana, they’ll get real pissed. Chances of them killing you rise dramatically. And I’m trying to prevent that.”  
 _He’s right. Tell him he’s right._  
“She says I’m right,” BTS passed on the message, pointing at his head.   
The Chief had nothing to say on whether he was right or wrong. “So, now, with the barrier compromised, we could take over the ship.” It wasn’t a question.  
“We could,” BTS agreed, “but we’re flying with a fleet in the middle of slipspace, so we’re destined for the same place no matter what. Why take the unnecessary risk?”  
“I’d rather come out of slipspace with a ship under my control than still be a prisoner,” the Chief argued.  
“We can take over the ship soon, then,” BTS agreed with a shrug. “We can’t have the rest of the fleet know, though, because then they’ll fire on us. We’re outnumbered.”  
“We should attack before exiting slipspace, then,” the Chief reasoned. “It’ll give us a surprise advantage.”  
“I’m cool with that,” the tiger said. “How’re we gonna know when to leave, though?”  
 _I can tell you that,_ Cortana promised.  
BTS tapped his head. “You-know-who’s got us covered. It could be a few days, so in the meantime, I’ll scout out the kitchens.”  
 _You’ll only have the time between guard shifts to find food._  
“How’re you going to get through the blast door out of this room without anyone noticing?” the Chief asked.  
“The guards don’t go through that door,” BTS replied. “It makes too much noise. They’ve got a secret side door somewhere, and I think I’ve located it by following their thermal signatures.”  
The Chief nodded. “Fair enough.”  
“If I was Blue, I could just create food from thin air,” the tiger muttered. “But I ain’t Blue, and fabrication has never been my strong suit. I’ve focused all my energies into learning how to make dangerous things, not helpful stuff.”  
 _We’ll need the dangerous things to help take over this ship,_ Cortana chuckled humorously.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	6. 3.5: Prison Break

3.5: Prison Break

BTS crouched, emptying his chest cavity of the rations he’d stolen. “This is so hilarious,” he chuckled. “They think I’m in here forcing you to starve to death. Hah! They’re so dumb.” Mr. High Ranker had been back twice, and had been angrily denied both times. They’d brought in Yanme’e to try and repair the console, but since the tiger had completely blasted the interface to smithereens, they were at a loss.  
He’d used supercloak to sneak about the ship in short segments, always returning before the guards did their rounds. It had been five days, and his plan was still working like a well-oiled machine.  
 _I’ve done such a good job here. What a great chap am I._  
But he would never forget what Blue had told him, long ago: _You let your victories get to your head. They make you think yourself unfailable. It makes you reckless. Well, more reckless than you already are._  
He was reckless. He was vain. He was smug. But he was also something else: an opportunist. And no opportunist worth their name acted (too) rashly. And he had learned his lessons long ago. He was BTS. He had left behind his old mistakes with his old name. Both meant nothing now.  
He laid down, flicking his tail absentmindedly. He hid their ration stash behind his metal bulk, curled around it like a sleeping housecat. He pinned his ears back to let the Chief know whenever an invisibro was coming.  
They couldn’t let anyone see the stolen food, of course. He put his ears back up one the sneaky Sangheili had gone, and the Chief could make himself some nice field ration dinner. Yuck.  
 _I think we’re preparing to exit slipspace,_ Cortana spoke up. _Cherenkov radiation is starting to rise._  
BTS pricked up his ears and parted his jaws, tasting the atmosphere. He had almost all his chemical sensory devices inside his mouth and nasal cavity, like a real cat.  
“Agreed,” he said. “Let’s get ready to move.”  
The Chief stood up, putting his helmet back on. BTS stood as well, kicking the rest of the rations into the corner.  
“Invisibros are approaching,” he cautioned. “We’ll ambush them and take their weapons.”  
The shield barrier went down, a final pulse of energy traveling down the connection he had with its console. They exited the cell, and BTS put up a supercloak around them.  
“Oh, you can have her back,” he mentioned, reaching into his mouth. He fished Cortana’s chip out from the back of his throat and passed it to the Chief, who inspected it like he had expected it to be covered in saliva.  
“Very funny,” the tiger muttered, not missing the inspection.  
The two guards trotted around the corner. They spotted the empty cell, barrier down, but before they could do anything, they were knocked out cold, one by BTS and the other by the Chief.  
“They’re carrying swords and plasma pistols,” BTS noted, scanning the bodies. “Take whatever you want, I guess. I can carry the rest.”  
The Chief had already robbed the guard he’d knocked out of his weapons. “Just take whatever he has.”  
BTS removed the deactivated hilt of the guard’s energy sword and his pistol. With a quiet clank, the metal plates that made up his broad chest folded open, revealing a decently-sized storage cavity. He tossed the pistol into the cavity. “There’s no way I’m operating that tiny thing with my giant paws. You can have it whenever you need it.”  
He gripped the hilt of the energy sword, which still wasn’t the greatest size for his paw, but it seemed badass and he really, really wanted to use it, so he’d deal. With his fingers uncurled from within the main body of each toe on his paw, he had better dexterity to be able to use this thing.  
He stood up, towering over the Chief and nearly hitting his head on the ceiling. “We have two ways to get out of here, Chief. I’m not sure which one’s gonna be the best for us.”  
They approached the thick door cutting off the exit of the room. BTS pointed to its left side.  
“The guard’s secret door is hidden behind that pillar. It requires a fingerprint to open, from both sides. As Cortana knows, though, it’s pretty simple to hack, especially when the both of us are going at it. If we go out that way, it leads to the guardroom. From the guardroom, I managed to find cargo bays, which I stole food from, and a shuttlebay. I also found living quarters, though I didn’t go in them. No command center, though.”  
“If we go through the main door, the hallways should lead to a shuttlebay, and from there, we can access the control center,” the Chief said. “Assuming this is just a smaller version of a battlecruiser.”  
“It seems to be,” Cortana spoke up through a small speaker hidden somewhere on the Chief’s assault armor. “The layout has matched so far.”  
“Cool beans,” BTS cheered. “Front door it is!”  
The Chief moved to put Cortana into a terminal that would let her open the door; BTS bent his hind legs, preparing to spring on any unfortunate soul that happened to be beyond the door.  
When it opened, however, the hall was empty, both ways. BTS switched his vision to thermal.  
“Unggoy approaching from behind,” he cautioned. The door to their right opened.  
The Unggoy screeched in panic at the sight of the freed prisoners and turned to run; with a massive leap the tiger cleared the space between them and landed on top of the poor creatures, crushing three of them. A pistol shot buzzed past his ear and hit a fourth; the fifth was finished off by a lunge and a swipe of his claws. He’d forgotten he had an energy sword.  
“Won’t have them running off to sound the alarm,” BTS said, standing back up. The ceiling was a little low for him, so he had to hunch. Being almost fifteen feet tall was great for intimidating people; not great for walking in hallways. But he needed to be bipedal to use his stolen Covenant weapons.  
“This way,” the Chief gestured to the leftmost door, which was unlocked. It opened when they approached, and the two Unggoy on the other side met a quick fate.  
“Sangheili approaching from the corner,” BTS hissed as they crept down the hallway. In front of them was another junction; the door opened and the Sangheili stepped through.  
The alien’s yellow eyes lit up in alarm, and his weapon came up firing. He was yelling, loud enough that those nearby would hear.  
“Damnit!” BTS growled. He ducked a plasma shot, but more hit him; they had no cover in the open hall, and he was an obnoxiously large target.  
An overcharged pistol shot struck the Sangheili, draining his shields. He stumbled back, and the tiger cleared the space between them, activating his stolen energy sword and plunging it through his chest.  
“Well done,” Cortana commended. The tiger grinned.  
They moved faster now; BTS could see the ship’s crew converging on their position. They went right, then left, then left again.  
A squad of Unggoy and Sangheili came roaring around the corner; they met the same grenade-fate, though some of them survived. BTS swiped an Unggoy against the wall, killing him in the process.   
“This way!” Cortana yelled. The Chief pointed down the righthand hall.  
The doors suddenly slammed shut and locked, indicators changing color to red.  
“Well, we know that’s the right way for sure, now,” BTS snorted.  
The Chief put Cortana into the door’s terminal. “We’ll hold this down while she unlocks the door.”  
“Rodger dodger,” the tiger said, ready to spring.  
Plasma fire came from around the corner; a Sangheili ran into view, firing furiously at them. BTS absorbed most of the hits, cursing at how efficient plasma was at draining his shields. The Chief charged the Sangheili, using the tiger as cover, and cut him down with his energy sword.  
The move brought him into the bend of the hallway; BTS saw his shields light up from receiving fire. The Spartan retreated; the door behind them opened.   
“Quickly!” Cortana urged. The Chief grabbed her chip from the terminal and they ran through.  
“Lock them out!” BTS yelled. More troops were pouring around the corner.  
“We need more distance first!” she yelled back. “I can’t retake the door fast enough!”  
“Alright,” BTS grumbled, and waved his paw at the door. Blue light flashed across it, forming a shield. Plasma fire peppered it angrily, but it held.  
“That won’t hold for long,” the tiger promised. “And it’ll drop as soon as its out of my range, which is not that large. Run!”  
They dashed around three, four more corners, killing a group of Kig-Yar in the process, before coming to another locked door. The Chief put Cortana down to do her work.  
“The control center is on the other side of this door,” he cautioned. “Get ready for a hell of a fight.”  
The door slid open, and they ran through, greeted by the angry roars of the Sangheili flight crew.  
There was a short corridor before the actual room itself; BTS could see one of the flight crew across the room before the Chief shot at him and he jumped for cover.   
BTS checked thermal. “Seven individuals. All Sangheili.”  
“One’s coming!” Cortana yelled.  
A sword-wielding Sangheili stormed around the corner, roaring. He received a nice pistol shot to the face, but it didn’t daunt him and his shields held. However, against BTS’s mighty paw to the head, they did not. The Sangheili was thrown against the wall, and BTS finished him off by driving his own energy sword through his chest.  
The tiger dropped back onto three legs, growling angrily. He’d take the sword to his shoulder in order to make his own strike, and his shields were near to drained because of it; thankfully, they recharged fairly quickly. But he felt the sword kill on his part was totally worth it.  
“That was stupid,” Cortana told him flatly. “We could have safely shot him to get his shields down if you hadn’t run into the way, and then you could have stabbed him.”  
“They’re waiting for us to come out,” BTS told them, ignoring the jab. “One of them is about to grab a grenade - we’re about to be out of cover.”  
“Go!” Cortana yelled. The Chief ran into the haze, taking advantage of all the confusion to finish off the last of the flight crew. BTS ran after him, roaring.  
The shipmaster was up on the control platform. He was shooting down from his position, trying to hit the Chief.  
BTS leapt, thrusters firing. He soared right through the holographic viewscreens, aiming for the shipmaster. The Sangheili dodged, drawing his energy sword.  
The tiger lunged, swiping. The shipmaster dodged and swung his sword, but BTS wasn’t about to fall for that again. He ducked, but the shipmaster nimbly swung his sword back, catching him on the backstroke. He was pushed back, growling while his shields sparked on the edge of failing. With a whirr, the plates in the center of his back parted, his energy turret emerging from its resting place, ready to fire. Energy bolts pelted the shipmaster, shattering his shields and throwing him off the platform. He roared angrily as he fell, landing on his feet. BTS leapt after him, and all three and a half thousand plus pounds of metal tiger hit like a train, killing the Sangheili with a bone-shattering blow to the head.  
“Clear,” the Chief called.   
“And we’ve exited slipspace as of just a few minutes ago,” Cortana said. “Which unfortunately means they got warning to the rest of their fleet, who are now shooting at us.”  
The cruiser suddenly rocked alarmingly, backing up her words.  
“Where are we?” BTS wanted to know, running back to the control platform. He remembered how to hack and operate the battlecruiser he and Blue had taken over at the Ark; this should be no different.  
“Put me in the system,” Cortana ordered. Once it, she could read through all of the ship’s information.  
“We’re approaching a planet,” she told them. “Information says the place is habitable...but I have no idea where we are.”  
The ship rocked again. “We’ve got to get away from these bogies!” BTS yelled. “They’re going to shoot us down!”  
“Get us to the planet,” the Chief ordered. “And lock the doors before more reinforcements get here!” he shot an Unggoy as it ran through one of the doors.  
“Doors are shut,” Cortana said. The doors all slid closed and locked.  
“We have three other ships on us!” BTS reported. “We’re outgunned.”  
“Make for the planet,” the Chief ordered. “If we go to ground, we’ve got a better chance at losing these guys.”  
“We’ll lose the ship, though!” BTS protested.  
“That’s the idea,” the Chief replied. “We’ll make them think we died in the crash. Get them off our tail.”  
“And find another way home,” Cortana finished. “Without an entire armada searching for us.”  
“Not like we have many other options, I guess,” BTS admitted grudgingly. He put both paws to the control panels on the deck and forced his mind into the ship.  
The thrusters fired, and they were off towards the planet, three angry cruisers in tow, splattering them with plasma fire. BTS could hear people banging on the other side of the doors, trying to break through.  
As they got closer to the planet, the tiger realized something was up. He couldn’t see the planet to know exactly what, but the bioscans were all off and a strange energy signature was circling the place.  
“I don’t like how this planet is turning out,” he said. “Something doesn’t seem right.”  
“Better to be on a strange planet than dead in space!” Cortana yelled.  
“Hold on!” BTS yelled. He swung the cruiser around, dodging incoming fire. The ship inverted, flying upside down. Thank goodness for artificial gravity.  
He fired back at their pursuers, trying to scare them off. _Oh, what I’d give for Aethon’s less-shitty-than-Covenant plasma cannons right now…_ He’d bet good money that a single overcharged plasma shot from the white ship’s cannon could take down any of these cruiser’s shields.  
The ship shook again from another impact. BTS fired back, and one of the cruisers briefly veered off course, giving them a moment of respite.  
Suddenly, a pulse of orange light moved through the ship, causing many of the sensors to freak out. The pulse itself, though, seemed harmless.  
“What was that?” BTS questioned.  
“Not sure!” Cortana replied. “Some sort of sensory scan!”  
One of the control room doors bent alarmingly; something had hit it hard. A lit plasma grenade was tossed through a small gap between the door and the wall.  
“Grenade!” the Chief yelled, running from the door. BTS growled angrily; with his mind locked into the ship’s systems, his awareness of his surroundings was limited. The grenade exploded, leaving a section of the floor blackened.  
Another pulse passed through the ship. “Why?” BTS yelped. “What is doing this?”  
“Just keep going!” both Cortana and the Chief yelled back in unison.  
The ship shook from another impact. “Shields are dangerously low!” the tiger reported. He fired back again, and one of the pursuing cruisers lost the rest of its shields.  
 _Damnit!_ The weapons had to recharge before firing again; by then, the ship would regain a low percentage of shielding. He cursed their inferior weapons technology mightily.  
They were coming fast to the planet that BTS so dearly wished he could actually see. He’d be patient - chances are, he’d see the planet no matter what. Even if the ship was blown to pieces, he’d likely survive the blast, and be able to evade the rest of the fleet to get to ground. Once he was there, however, he had no idea what he’d do.  
They were close - very close.   
“Entering orbit,” he reported. “Searching for a safe place to “crash”...wait, what the hell?”  
Now that they were in orbit, the ship’s entrance systems had been activated, but something was not right. The scanners were telling him the surface of the planet was right below them.  
“Where’s the atmosphere?” he questioned. “There has to be one on something this large, and Cortana, you said this place was habitable!”  
“It is!” she replied. “Check your damn scanners!”  
Indeed, the scanners were showing an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, but it was below the surface.  
“The planet is contained within some sort of superstructure,” he reported. “We need to find a way in!”  
“This can only be of Forerunner origin!” Cortana exclaimed. “No other society could have built something of this scale!” She sounded a little too excited for their perilous situation.  
The orange light passed through the ship again, and BTS felt something on the shell of the planet start to change.  
“Massive energy spike below us!” he reported. Something smashed into the ship. “Argh! Shields down!”  
“The planet has activated a gravity well!” Cortana yelled. “We’re being pulled in!”  
“Into the shell?” BTS asked.  
“Through the shell!” Cortana replied.  
The ship tilted alarmingly, hull creaking. The entire vessel shook, metal screeching.  
“Hull breach!” BTS reported, alarmed. “We’re being fired upon!” his eyes widened. “Bloody hell, there’s more ships out here!”  
The ship shook again, something exploding.  
“This is no band of scavengers!” the Chief called. “This is a full-on war faction.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	7. 3.6: Welcome to Requiem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope, I did not die of COVID. I died of an honors thesis. And my general inability to focus on one writing project at a time.

3.6: Welcome to Requiem

“We’re entering the shell,” Cortana told them. BTS felt the energy passing over them again.  
“Well, you wanted to land, so land we will,” he growled. The gravity well had taken complete hold of the ship; they had no other choice.  
Suddenly, catastrophic explosions ripped through the ship as a ventral beam passed through the aft section, striking engines and reactors. Sections of the hull were torn free, and the ship began to fall towards the planet at frightening speed.  
“We gotta move!” BTS yelled, dropping down from the platform. “Follow me, I’ll get us out and planetside.”  
“We’re surrounded by enemies at all doors,” the Chief warned.  
“Not a problem,” the tiger growled. He trotted to the bent door, grabbed the exposed edge, and ripped the door in half.  
The Unggoy and Sangheili on the other side reacted with surprise, jumping back from the door. The tiger charged, barreling into them. He activated his energy sword and swung it back and forth, cutting through anything that happened to get in his way. Plasma fire pelted him, but his shields held strong.  
He leapt at one of the Sangheili, swiping him into the wall. He drained the rest of the sword’s battery in killing him, leaving the now-useless hilt on the ground amongst the bodies. The Chief paused to swap out his also-dead plasma pistol before following the tiger.  
“Nearest hangar bay should be this way,” the Chief said, looking around. “We’ll go out through there.”  
“We better hurry,” the BTS replied. “We don’t have long before we hit the ground.”  
The hallway opened up to the catwalk that ran the side of one of the hangars, currently empty. BTS dropped onto all fours. Panels between his shoulders opened, receding, and his wings folded out from his back, extending to either side of him, engines somewhat-reminiscent of turbofans dropping below them. He crouched, offering a shoulder. “Hop on, Chief. My hyperdrive may be broken, but my realspace engines still work.”  
The Chief jumped onto his back, and he leapt over the railing, soaring into the main space of the bay. His engines fired, and he shot through the hangar’s exit into the atmosphere.  
He donned his supercloak, extending it to cover his passenger as well. They fled from the falling ship, on a collision course with a canyon landscape. BTS circled towards the ground, sticking near to the ship.  
“Some of those enemy cruisers got pulled through,” he noted, looking above them. The cruisers were in the process of falling, crashing, and attempting to not die. The gravity well had not done them nicely; they couldn’t escape the pull of the planet, which continued to drag them down.  
The wreckage of their ship fell out of sight, its explosion emanating from a small canyon. Nearby, another ship struck the ground, exploding along the fore section, though the aft remained intact.  
“There are going to be Covenant who survive these crashes,” Cortana warned. “We’ll have to watch out.” her voice cracked weirdly on the word “watch”.  
BTS snorted, flicking his ears. She’d done plenty of those voice cracks aboard the ship, and it seemed that being back with her Spartan friend hadn’t fixed the problem, like he’d thought it would.  
“Any idea where we are now?” the Chief asked.  
“You have been asked to give up your family, your childhood, your future,” Cortana replied in a strange, distorted voice.  
“Uh, come again?” BTS asked. The Chief pulled the AI’s data chip out of his helmet, examining it.  
Cortana’s hologram appeared above the chip. “I’m-I’m sorry. I’m just a little stressed right now, with the crash and all.”  
“She’s been acting weird for like the past year,” BTS mentioned. “I thought she was just lonely without you, Chief, but I guess maybe that’s not the problem.”  
“I’m fine,” Cortana insisted, voice cracking again.  
“Cortana…” the Chief sounded like he was scolding a child.  
The AI looked down, hugging herself nervously. “I was put into service eight years ago.”  
“And?” BTS asked. “That timespan means nothing to me.”  
“AIs - my type of AIs - start to deteriorate after seven years,” Cortana explained. “Neither of you know how rampancy works, do you?”  
“Halsey,” the Chief said. “We need to get you to Halsey. She made you. She could fix you.” He seemed to understand exactly what was going on, much more than BTS did.  
“Chief, please,” Cortana replied, looking upset. “I won’t recover from rampancy. It’s not possible.”  
“Halsey could fix you,” the Chief repeated.   
Cortana sighed, covering her face with a hand. “Don’t make a girl a promise you can’t keep.”  
BTS’s feet touched the ground. He’d landed them in the canyon, to better hide them from discovery. The Chief jumped off his back, looking around cautiously.  
“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,” the tiger admitted, “but it sounds kinda bad.”  
“It is,” Cortana replied sadly. The avatar was looking at him like she hoped he would somehow understand her doomsday outlook. He still didn’t think he could.  
He reared up onto his hind legs, wings retracting into his back, eyes looking to the sky. “Not possible is not a phrase I use.”  
The Chief put the chip back into his helmet. “Either way, we need to find a ship that can get us out of here.”  
The tiger pointed towards the crash site. “I say we go search for whatever useful shit we can find. I’ve got a single plasma pistol in my chest cavity; I can carry plenty more.”  
They started off for the crash site, careful to watch out for other survivors. The tiger’s ears picked up the sound of engines, and a Phantom passed overhead, followed by two Banshees.  
“We’re not alone,” the Chief said, voice low. “Stick to cover. The longer we go without getting spotted, the easier this will be.” He looked up at the tiger. “Do you...have to stand up like that? You’re kind of obvious.”  
“Ugh, fine,” BTS grumbled, crouching back down to four feet.  
The site of their ship was a massive burn-crater full of debris and pieces of twisted hull. Charred bodies were scattered about; the crash had not been survivable.  
BTS took a plasma rifle from a nearby corpse and examined it. “These aren’t Covenant-grade.”  
“Neither is the combat harness they’re wearing,” the Chief told him. “They aren’t Covenant, at least not the type we’re used to.”  
BTS stuffed the rifle into his chest cavity. “It works, I’m taking it.”  
“Over there, I think there’s a battlenet terminal that’s still working, from one of the other crashed ships,” Cortana spoke up. “I’d like to see what they’re talking about.”  
The terminal was half-hidden in wreckage, damaged but still functioning. The Chief activated it, and Cortana translated.  
“Non-believers walk the sacred ground. Purge the heretics, so that they do not foul the air of Paradise. The time has come to enter the Great Light. The Promethean awakening is nigh...our reward is at hand,” she translated. “Huh. Sounds like they’ve found something.”  
“I do not like the sound of “Promethean awakening”,” BTS growled. “Unless they’re referring to the Promethean School of Running Away From Things.”  
The Chief stared at him blankly. The tiger waved an apologetic paw. “Sorry; that joke is about five hundred years too old.”  
“Let’s find more of these terminals,” Cortana suggested.   
They scaled along the cliff, keeping to areas of cover in case more Phantoms showed up. Another crash site yielded a second terminal, attached to the shattered hull of a Lich.  
The terminal was repeating the same word over and over again: “Didact”.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” BTS questioned. “Didact?”  
“The Covenant have been broadcasting that message from an equidistant orbit every 30 minutes for the last three years,” Cortana reported.  
“They’ve been here for three years?” the Chief asked incredulously.   
“Seems like they couldn’t get into the planet,” Cortana concluded.  
“So this “Didact” is what let us in?” BTS questioned. “And they were just trying to ask for entry?”  
“Perhaps,” Cortana mused.  
The small canyon was slowly coming to an end, narrowing. A tall crack between the rocks led onwards; they could go up, but the higher ground was inhabited by enemies. Better to stay below and undetected. They moved through the fissure, which was thankfully wide enough for BTS to walk through.  
“I'm picking up a faint transmission on the high-band,” Cortana reported. “Not sure what it is. I’ll try to triangulate its position.”  
The fissure became more like a cave, and wound around like an ancient river had once flown through it. The tiger kept the rear, watching their back. It was too quiet; he couldn’t even hear the sound of small animals, like a life-supporting planet should have.  
Sunlight signaled the end of the cave, and it spilled open into an absolutely magnificent sight.  
They were on a cliff edge, above a long valley. Tall mountains framed them, and the valley itself was littered with structures that could only be Forerunner, merging with the mountains themselves and floating above the ground in defiance of gravity. Tall spires rose above, tops among the clouds.  
“Whoa,” BTS breathed. “That is cool.”  
“Mind giving us a lift down?” the Chief asked. “We’ll move faster if you do all the walking.”  
BTS bent his front legs, dipping a shoulder. “Climb on up.”  
The Chief jumped up onto his back, and he set off at a lope, following the cliff’s edge. He didn’t want to jump straight into the Forerunner structures below them - he had no idea what could be down there. Could be a bunch of Covenant with very large guns.  
The cliff curved around, following the edge of what seemed to be a peninsula jutting into the valley. The path was littered with debris from the crash, but BTS couldn’t spot any living enemies. They’d all been obliterated by the impact and resulting explosions.  
“Another thing about my condition…” Cortana started, and the tiger braced for more bad news. But, he was surprised; the AI’s next words were not that bad. “I didn’t want to mention it, because it’s a complete longshot, but BTS seemed more confident than I was, and he might not be wrong. It is possible that getting home could help me find a solution to my rampancy.”  
“How?” the Chief asked.  
“Well, as far as I know, I'm the only AI ever generated from living tissue,” she cautiously explained. “I’m a clone of Doctor Halsey, to be precise. It may be possible to recompile my neural net by replicating those same conditions. But that means getting back to Halsey. Soon.”  
“If we had a way to repair my hyperdrive, soon would be now,” BTS grumbled. “But it’s absolute toast. Only Blue or an army of engine technicians and a repair facility could fix it now.”  
The littered and torn terrain would’ve been difficult on a wheeled vehicle, but the tiger had no issues. He cleared barriers and gaps with ease, keeping a sharp eye out for enemy movement.  
“It looks like we’re coming up on multiple paths,” he observed, squinting. “Some diverge from this cliff. If we’re trying to chase down this signal, you better be navigating, Cortana.”  
“Go left,” she ordered. The tiger nodded and veered around the turn, entering a wooded ravine that sloped slowly downwards.  
“There it is again!” Cortana exclaimed. “It’s getting stronger.”  
“Do you think there's something to it?” the Chief asked.  
“I'm curious, more than anything,” the AI admitted. “Its behavior is...odd.”  
“Hostiles ahead,” BTS alerted them. “Infantry, judging by the heat signatures. Could be vehicles too.”  
The ravine opened up to another cliff over a smaller valley, with one of those floating spires in the distance. A path led down into the valley, mostly hidden by trees. But BTS could see the thermals of enemy troops.  
“How many?” the Chief asked.  
“Not sure, but it’s about to be less,” the tiger replied, jumping into the air.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	8. 3.7: The Cartographer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nor does this mean I'm actually going to be able to focus on this project to upload on a semi-regular schedule again. I have too many things I want to work on at the same time and no willpower to actually focus on just one.

3.7: The Cartographer

The tiger’s wings unfolded from his shoulders, engines dropping down and firing up. He reached into his chest cavity and withdrew the plasma rifle.  
“Rain death on them from above!” he yelled, maybe a bit too energetically.  
He swooped over the valley, the enemies below crying in shock. The ground was covered by scattered infantry, some hiding near portable shield generators. A Phantom, just having dropped its crew, swooped away. The tiger buzzed over the troops, plasma rifle in hand.  
“I think they were planning on searching for us,” he said, headshotting an Unggoy to his right.  
“We found them first,” the Chief replied grimly, shooting down a Kig-Yar off the tiger’s other flank.  
There were Unggoy and Kig-Yar on the ground, and they were not at all prepared for an airborne enemy. BTS razed down two more Unggoy, blasting over their heads right after pelting them with plasma fire.  
“Watch out for that turret!” Cortana yelled. BTS rolled to dodge the plasma fire. The Chief cursed and grabbed the tiger’s shoulders, somehow not falling off his back.  
“Sorry!” BTS apologized, realizing what he had nearly done.  
“Warn me next time!” the Chief scolded.  
The tiger turned, aiming for a platform inhabited by Kig-Yar snipers. He and the Chief pelted it with plasma fire, scattering the snipers. He barreled forwards and skidded onto the platform, swiping the survivors over the edge.  
“There’s a second platform ahead, blocking the entrance to that structure,” Cortana observed. “Get that one down!”  
“Rodger dodger,” the tiger confirmed, and sped for the second platform. A beam rifle shot glanced across his forearm, draining his shields alarmingly. He dipped, going quickly below the sniper’s sightline, and shot back up, shooting the Kig-Yar close to point-blank. The Chief had him covered, and took down the other snipers so he could land. He scuttled behind the cover on the platform, waiting for his shields to recharge.  
“Those snipers hurt!” he growled. “Damn plasma weaponry!”  
“How’d your friend there survive an entire frigate falling on top of her, if plasma alone seems to give you such a rough time?” Cortana questioned, possibly trying to rile him up. “Or are you just exaggerating?”  
“Is this really the time for this discussion?” the Chief asked, firing at a Sangheili that had just emerged from the Forerunner structure.  
“Blue’s shields are much stronger than mine,” BTS replied. “And heat has always been a weakness of energetic shields. The heat over-energizes the shields and makes it harder for them to hold together. It causes them to basically rip themselves apart.”  
“So you’re beat by counterintuition?” Cortana questioned. “How interesting.”  
“Can we focus?” the Chief asked, annoyed. He downed the Sangheili, leaving their path forward unblocked.  
The tiger jumped off the sniper platform and landed at the entrance of the ravine, skidding over to the Sangheili’s body to rob him of his weapons and ammo before continuing. The corpse had a carbine, which the Chief swapped out for his now-empty plasma rifle. BTS dropped his own plasma rifle, which was also near to empty.  
“Onwards!” the tiger declared, running down the ravine. He dashed around a bend, and ran into a group of Unggoy. He plowed right into them without stopping, his sharp claws ripping right through flesh and metal as he ran them down.  
“Weapons?” Cortana asked.  
“Weapons,” he chirruped in agreement, skidding to a stop. He backed up, examining the small bodies. “Pistols and a needler...ah, I’ll take them.” he stuffed the weapons into his chest cavity, now home to three pistols and the needler.  
“If we're going to hijack a ship from these Covenant, we're going to have to find where they're landing first,” Cortana mentioned.  
“I thought we were chasing the signal!” BTS protested.  
“We can do both,” the Chief interrupted them before they could start arguing again. “We’ll need a plan, either way.”  
“We could always ask nicely…” Cortana suggested.  
“Asking’s not my strong suit,” BTS and the Chief chorused. They both looked at each other momentarily. The tiger snorted and looked back down at the ground.  
The ravine opened into a small, rock-littered valley. Enemies jumped out from behind the rocks, thinking they had the element of surprise on their side, and were met by the Chief shooting them in the head.  
“Well that takes care of like all of them,” BTS stated. “Nice.”  
The Chief shot an Unggoy that had been hiding in a corner with an overcharged pistol. “Not all.”  
“Sniper on the structure ahead,” Cortana warned. “More enemies below the structure.”  
“I’ll take care of the sniper,” the Chief decided. “BTS, get whoever's on the ground.”  
The tiger nodded. “Rodger dodger. But if I’m going to have to go through this skirmish without any hands, then I need my energy turret.”  
“You have an energy turret?” Cortana asked.  
The tiger nodded. “Yeah, the Chief is sitting on it. So, uh, yeah, you need to scooch back a bit.”  
The turret deployed from just behind his shoulders, panels unfolding to allow the gun to rise up from storage. The barrel extended, small lateral lights turning on as the weapon powered up. The tiger looked left, then right, and the barrel followed his head, aiming towards wherever his eyes were looking.  
“Not bad,” the Chief said.  
“Not bad?” the tiger asked, insulted. “This is top-tier energetic weaponry! I don’t see you with a gun mounted to your back!”  
“It aims based on where you look?” Cortana asked.  
The tiger nodded. “Yeah. So please refrain from pulling on it - it makes me dizzy if someone else tries to disrupt my aim.”  
He ran around the large rock jutting in front of the structure, roaring. The sniper up top caught them in his sights - and caught a carbine shot to the face.  
There were multiple Kig-Yar below the structure, and at least one Sangheili. BTS pelted them with his energy turret, directing the shots at the little gaps in the Kig-Yars’ shield gauntlets. The one Sangheili roared angrily and charged them, firing his weapon. The tiger leapt, paws hitting the Sangheili’s chest. He knocked him down and closed his jaws around his throat; shields strained under his incredible bite force, shattered, and his teeth found each other through metal, flesh, and bone.  
“Can you do me a favor and remember that you have a passenger?” the Chief asked sarcastically. He was grappling with the now-dead Sangheili’s weapon arm, trying to keep the gun away from his head.  
“Sorry,” BTS muttered, splitting bits of armor out of his mouth. “But wasn’t that badass?”  
They sped off to the left of the structure, where the path wrapped around. BTS ran over another Unggoy, and they came upon a ramp leading up to the building. There were Covenant weapons drops next to the ramp; they stopped quickly to fill up ammo before continuing.  
Up the ramp and around the corner were more enemies, in what seemed to be a wide doorway. BTS skittered to the wall, avoiding line-of-fire.  
“More enemies beyond, and up top,” Cortana reported.  
“But where is it we need to be going?” BTS asked. “I’d rather move on than spend all day chasing down every last Unggoy.”  
“Up top,” Cortana repeated. “It leads into the structure.”  
He backed out of the room, which had led to nowhere and was still rife with pissed-off enemies, and wrapped around to the ramp that led up. A flash of an energy sword caught his eye.  
“Sword dude ahead!” he yelped. “Hold on!”  
He jumped into the air, unfolding his wings again. He shot low over the ramp, then up, surprising the sword-wielder by not being on the ground. He was too high to be struck by the weapon, and he landed well out of range of a lunge. As soon as his feet were on the ground, his eyes were on the swordbearer and his turret was firing. Between him and the Chief, the Sangheili didn’t even have time to find cover.  
“Out of ammo,” the Spartan reported.  
“Have a needler,” BTS replied, fishing the weapon from his chest cavity.  
The Chief took it. “It feel like you produced this by some kind of magic trick.”  
“Oh, that’s me,” the tiger grumbled. “Convenient mobile storage machine extraordinaire.”  
“I have a feeling you think your chest cavity is a waste of space,” Cortana observed.  
“Duh!” BTS exclaimed. “I could have a big plasma cannon mounted in there! But no! I have to be practical!”  
There were a few more bogies on the platform, but they didn’t last very long. The tiger landed, sniffing around for more weapons to hoard. The Chief hopped off his back, seeking the same thing.  
“We better move quickly,” Cortana cautioned. “Those guys below won’t stay there forever.”  
“The Sangheili dropped his camo module,” the Chief said, picking up the item. “This could be useful.”  
BTS walked up to the Forerunner structure’s open door, with another closed one just behind it. He trotted through, having a look around.  
The Chief walked in after him, and the door behind them rolled shut on its own. The both paused to look at it.  
“Now that’s not concerning at all,” the tiger grumbled sarcastically. “I feel like I’m walking into a haunted house now.”  
“I’m getting that phantom signal again!” Cortana exclaimed. “I can almost hear...voices…”  
BTS rolled his eyes. “Maybe we are in a haunted house. Maybe it’s the ghosts.”  
The door opened, leading deeper into the structure. They walked through, into a room lit by lines of light that ran along the walls and floors. A ramp led up in front of them, and they ascended.   
Suddenly, a squad of little flying robots popped up, making the tiger growl a warning. However, they seemed uninterested in the duo, and flew away.  
“Sentinels,” the Chief observed. “I was wondering when they’d show up.”  
The room beyond them was a mix of platforms and pillars, all seeming to be able to move on their own. Dead Covenant littered around, apparently killed by the Sentinels.  
“Explore?” the tiger questioned.  
“There’s a console in the back,” Cortana pointed out the object.  
“Let’s go,” the Chief said.  
BTS dipped his shoulder, and the Chief hopped on. With flight, crossing the room was easy.  
They landed at the console, the Chief disembarking to investigate. He put Cortana’s chip into the console, which lit up and projected a hologram of the planet.  
“It's a localized site Cartographer. Hmm...okay: In service of Forerunner Shield World, designate "Requiem",” Cortana reported.   
“Nice to know where we are,” the Chief said. BTS didn’t miss the sarcasm; he’d never heard of the place before either.  
“Let's see if it can tell us what the Covenant are so interested in,” Cortana declared. The hologram suddenly flickered and vanished.  
“Huh?” Cortana seemed confused.  
“What happened?” the Chief asked. BTS, about to say the same thing, quickly shut his mouth.  
“I don't know...it locked up. I'm detecting power fluctuations in several locations. I'll put them up for you,” Cortana offered. “There are terminals there that should be able to get this back online.”  
“Saddle up, we’ll make this quick,” the tiger promised.  
They flew to the first location, which was off to the side in its own little chamber. The platform itself was separated by a chasm, which BTS flew over to deposit the Chief next to the terminal.  
He activated the terminal, which lit up with a golden beam of light. The Chief’s shields were drained, and he took a step back in surprise.  
“What's it doing?” he asked.  
“It's all right,” Cortana reassured him. “This energy is actually a ferroelectric data field... Your shields are just cycling in response to the chamber's charge.”  
BTS frowned, looking at his paws. His shields were just fine. He looked back up, and spotted incomers on his thermal.  
“Enemies; they found a way in!” he reported. “Chief, I’ll hold them off while you get the other terminal.”  
He flew out of the chamber, rolling hard to the side to get his turret aimed at the ground troops. There were Unggoy and Kig-Yar scattered about; he drove them back as the Chief scurried across to the other terminal.  
There were numerous enemies, but he was a hard target to hit, flying around. He moved faster than his size and weight would predict. These Covenant were decent marksmen, though he had run into much better. Best to consider himself lucky and not get cocky, that’s what Blue would tell him.  
He ducked behind a pillar, giving his shields a moment to recharge. Across the way, the Chief entered the room containing the other terminal.  
There were more enemies, moving fast. The tiger pounced around the corner, crushing a Kig-Yar with a hefty blow.  
He was chasing down the final few Unggoy when the Chief emerged from the side room. He left the little guys running for their lives and returned to the Spartan.  
“There’s a UNSC ship nearby,” he told the tiger. “The Infinity.”  
“We might be able to track it through the Cartographer,” Cortana added.  
“Room is clear, so do as you must,” BTS told them, gesturing to the corpses littered around.  
They hurried back to the main console. The Chief put Cortana’s chip back into it, and all the holograms reappeared.  
The AI started to interact with the system; it flashed red and emitted error tones.   
“Want me to help?” BTS offered. “I can interact with these systems too.”  
“I got it,” Cortana reassured him. The holograms stabilized, and numerous red circles appeared on the surface.  
“The Cartographer keeps acting like the transmission is coming from everywhere on the planet at once. It doesn't want to triangulate Infinity's signal,” Cortana reported. The tiger lifted a paw to interact with the console, but Cortana glared at him so harshly he froze.  
The red circles vanished, replaced by a single red sphere.  
“I got it,” Cortana said triumphantly.  
“That can’t be right,” the Chief told her dubiously.  
“The ship is inside the planet?” BTS questioned, tilting his head. “Am I seeing this correctly?”  
“The planet is not actually a planet,” Cortana explained. “It’s many hollow spheres within each other, from the looks of it. We've already passed through one layer of the planet’s surface. It's not crazy to think that someone else made it deeper inside than we did.”  
BTS shut his eyes, and felt the energy of the surface below him. There were machines, systems, earth...but then it all suddenly changed.  
“She’s right,” he said. “It is hollow. But you would never know unless you specifically went looking for it.”  
“Let me see if I can figure out a way to reach these coordinates that doesn't involve us digging a really big hole,” Cortana continued. A map of the structure they were in appeared instead of the sphere.  
“There's a Terminus at the far side of the complex. We can portal to the planet's core from there,” she reported.  
“I mean, I’m not against digging a really big hole…” the tiger began.  
Cortana was staring strangely back up at the hologram.  
“What is it?” the Chief asked.  
“I don’t know,” she replied faintly.  
“If we have a shot of getting you back to Infinity, we're taking it,” the Chief told her firmly.  
She nodded anxiously. “Ok…”  
He removed her chip from the console and looked at BTS. “You ready to move?”  
“Of course I am,” the tiger replied. “Lead the way.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	9. 3.8: A Boring Trip to the Terminus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to write out the combat sequences of the game...because they really are pretty bland. Like, they're awesome to play and watch other people play, but in writing...they're very 'eh'. I also don't have the time to spend thoroughly rewriting them to try and make things more interesting...so my apologies if it is, as the title states, a boring trip to the Terminus.

3.8: A Boring Trip to the Terminus

The unusual trio passed through another door, into a room where some machine was projecting light beams onto a table. Unknown modules lay nearby.  
The tiger nosed one of them. “What do these do?”  
“Hardlight shields, I think,” Cortana replied.  
“Hmmm…” BTS picked up one of the modules and stuffed it into his chest cavity. “Maybe it’ll be useful. Or maybe I’m just giving in to my magpie tendencies.”  
“What do you know about Infinity?” the Chief asked Cortana.  
“Not much. She was supposed to be massive, but the project was only in prototype when we left,” she replied.  
The room led outwards, towards an open space. It was a large cavern, roof soaring high above. BTS spotted Banshees and a Phantom circling in the space, though they hadn’t seemed to notice the newcomers yet. Maybe they would get lucky.  
“Scouts, fortifying the bridge below. Stay sharp,” Cortana cautioned.  
The path ended at an elevator that led down to the bridge. On the far side was a small exit door.  
“Bridge or sky?” BTS asked. “I can tell you which one will be faster.”  
“With the Banshees, I’m not so sure,” Cortana replied. “And you’re not exactly a...graceful flier in combat.”  
“Banshees are like paper airplanes to me,” BTS said casually, flicking his tail. “But whatever. I can roll with either way.”  
“We’ll stick to the ground,” the Chief said, choosing the opinion of his long-time companion who was most definitely going mad instead of what was clearly the right answer (in BTS’s opinion). But, he wasn’t about to throw a fit over it. He rolled his eyes in a dignified manner and jumped off the edge of the elevator.  
The Chief followed him, landing with a thump. “Would it have killed you to use the elevator?” Cortana muttered.  
They plowed through the infantry on the bridge in boring, slow fashion, BTS lamenting all that time that had been lost. _Death to you, death to you, death to everyone! Oh, death to you too._  
The midsection of the bridge dropped down; more bogies were hiding down there. BTS dully picked them off one by one with his energy turret, wishing they were through the door on the other side of the bridge already.  
There was an unclaimed Banshee across the gap in the bridge, but the Chief didn’t seem very interested in it as he picked his way across, finishing off the rest of the enemies. An occupied Banshee sped by overhead, firing at him. He ducked into cover quickly, shields emitting their distinct yellowish glow.  
BTS extended his wings and jumped into the air, chasing the small vehicle. It was extraordinarily nimble and very fast, looping away from him. But, he was just as much so, and he had the advantage of his (in his opinion) fantastic and superior creativity.  
He donned his supercloak briefly, just long enough for the Banshee to circle back around, confused. He sprang upon it, dropping his cloak, claws cutting into its hull. He closed his jaws around one wing of the fighter, and with a mighty jerk of his head tore it free from the fuselage. Crippled, the Banshee spiraled out of control and he left it to crash.  
Down on the ground, the Chief had almost all of the infantry. When the last Unggoy was down, he ran through the doorway, and the tiger was hot on his heels.  
The door shut behind them, preventing any riffraff from following. Down the short hallway was another door, which led outside. Another looming Forerunner structure stood in their way. Beyond it, a tall pillar was firing golden light into the sky.  
“More enemies and whatever,” BTS grumbled tiredly. “They never end, do they?”  
He just wanted to get up and go, screw the Covenant. Just close a few doors, and they were shut out. But that didn’t seem to be how the Chief worked. He seemed to prefer more of a scorched-earth policy, even despite the pressing situation. Plus, the doors seemed to operate on some magical jamba juice that only flowed when every enemy was dead. Otherwise, they remained tightly shut.  
The structure, which had multiple balconies and ramps, was crawling with baddies.  
 _Goodness this is going to take forever._  
“The Covenant net's going crazy,” Cortana told them. “They're ordering all units to converge on the tower.”  
“I guess we got their attention,” the Chief replied.  
“So much for stealth,” BTS muttered. “Why can’t we just have a nice walk to our destination? Why do we have to fight all of High Charity to get there?”  
He mowed down his first round of targets with his energy turret, even getting a sniper up on one of the high decks. Their path was through the structure, so they’d have to shoot their way through.  
He could tell where they needed to go; up, into the structure, along a ramp that wrapped around on the left. He flew to the entrance to scope it out. A beam rifle shot whistled past his head; there was a sniper on the top of the ramp. A bolt of energy from his turret finished that sucker off, and the tiger turned to see where the Chief was. He was on the other side of the structure, bashing Unggoy with his assault rifle.  
“Chief! Over here!” he called, and thankfully the Spartan listened, breaking away from the more useless side of the tower.  
As the Chief crossed the middle of the tower, a sword-wielding Sangheili suddenly jumped at him from within the structure. BTS saw the Spartan’s shields flash, drained by a strike, but he unload a full clip of carbine ammo into his attacker’s face without so much as flinching, and the Sangheili topped over, dead.  
“Nice one,” the tiger complimented. But he didn’t get a reply (was one really even expected?) so he trotted up the ramp and around a righthand corner. There were two (maybe three? They moved way too fast to count sometimes) Sangheili on the floor in front of him. And to his great appreciation, none of them seemed to notice him yet.  
He backed up into cover and picked up the dead sniper’s beam rifle. It was a bit awkward in his giant paws, but he bought the scope up to his eye anyways and hopped on three legs into the open.  
 _Surprise!_  
To his great disappointment, the rifle overheated after three shots, and it took three shots just to kill one of the buggers. He backed into cover, glaring angrily at the weapon as it hissed skin-peeling heat all over his paw. “Well, this is disappointing. Should have just used my energy turret. Why is it that I always have the desire to make things complicated?”  
A greenish blur signaled the arrival of the Chief, who without any hesitation took on the other two Sangheili in the room. A strangled, angry cry was ended in a round of carbine fire.  
“Last one’s coming from the left,” BTS noticed, looking through thermal. He hoisted the beam rifle and took aim at the corner. As soon as he saw the heat signature step into the open, he fired away, and the unfortunate soul was hit by carbine and beam rifle shots at the same time.  
“Well, that was quick work,” the tiger commented, tossing aside the now-empty beam rifle. He trotted into the center of the room, and looked up to his left, where ramps led to another platform.  
“Two Mgalekgolo, up top,” he growled. “Sentinels are fighting them.”  
“The Sentinels are trying to keep the Covenant out!” Cortana exclaimed.  
“But not us?” BTS questioned, under his breath. “I find something fishy about that.”  
The two Mgalekgolo hadn’t noticed them, yet. Each side of the platform had a ramp leading up to it.  
“You take right, I'll take left,” the Chief ordered. “We’ll come at them from both sides and hopefully keep them from focusing on just one of us.”   
“Sure thing, boss,” the tiger agreed. He trotted across to his ramp.  
“Hit them from behind,” Cortana called after him. “They’re too well protected from the front.”  
Both of the big creatures were distracted by the Sentinels, who were doing their darndest but couldn’t break through the Mgalekgolo’s heavy armor. BTS donned his supercloak and stalked up the ramp, using thermal to track the Chief from the other side. They would attack together, forcing the big, wormy amalgamations to split their attention.  
One of the beasties was hit in the back by carbine fire as the Chief crept onto the platform. It turned around with an angry roar; worms could roar? A question for another time.  
The tiger lept, claws unsheathing from his paws, wicked sharp triple sabers of shredding destruction. With his supercloak on, neither of the creatures knew he was coming.  
He landed on the Mgalekgolo’s back, teeth biting onto the ridge of armor around the back of its neck. His claws shredded right through its poorly-armored back, encountering the much squishier creatures beneath. Luminous orange blood sprayed out from under his claws, and the Mgalekgolo roared in pain and confusion. Its partner turned, making more angry noises.  
The Chief ran by BTS’s Mgalekgolo and jumped up a small structure in the middle of the platform. The other Mgalekgolo was moving around this same structure to try and help its friend; out of the corner of his eye, BTS saw the Chief jump off the top of the structure, leaping over the Mgalekgolo’s head. He threw a plasma grenade; it stuck to the creature’s back and detonated, heavily injuring it.  
BTS’s own Mgalekgolo was rapidly dying, its entire back shredded by his claws. He jumped off its corpse to watch the Chief finish off the other of the pair.  
He trotted around the platform, taking a quick look for any interesting loot. “Too bad these buggers don’t let go of their weapons when they die,” he snorted, kicking a Mgalekgolo’s assault cannon-arm with a hind paw. “I’d like of like to try out one of these. They seem rad.”  
“Rad,” Cortana questioned dryly.  
“Keep this,” the Chief ordered, handing the tiger some big, orangish weapon he’d never seen before. “Get rid of those pistols you have. They’re not as useful and pretty much every corpse will have one if we really need it.”  
“Ok, but what is it?” BTS asked, opening his chest cavity. The weapon wouldn’t fit in the space while the pistols were there, so he swapped them out. There was just enough space left for the hardlight shield module to stay.  
“I sure hope that doesn’t go off while it’s in your chest,” Cortana said worriedly. “It’s a fuel rod gun. They tend to be...finicky.”  
BTS flattened his ears. “Thanks for making me feel real nice about carrying this weapon for you.”  
“Sorry,” Cortana muttered.  
The door at the end of the platform opened, admitting them. The adjacent room was nothing more than a small hallway.  
“While you were busy, I managed to clear up another transmission from Infinity,” Cortana mentioned. There was a spike of static, and a voice said, “artifact site?”  
“Sounded like he said artifact,” the Chief observed. BTS nodded in agreement.  
“I wonder if it’s related to whatever the Covenant is after,” Cortana mused.  
The door at the end of the hall opened to let them into a larger room. Orange glass seemed to make up part of the floor, lit from within so the room had a low and mysterious glow. From the roof and walls projected repeated fin-like structures; with a smooth clank the fins started to retract into the walls, opening up the room even more.  
“I don’t like that,” BTS muttered, padding along after the Chief. “I feel like we’re being watched.”  
“Sentinels?” Cortana offered. There were a couple of the mechanical beings buzzing around.  
“They don’t help with the feeling, that’s for sure,” BTS replied. “But I can see them. I’ve got that icky feeling that whoever’s watching us I can’t see.”  
“Where’s the Terminus?” the Chief asked.  
“The map placed it at the top of the tower,” Cortana told him.  
“Great, so we gotta go up to go down?” BTS questioned. “Seems illogical to me.”  
“I think there’s a lift at the top of that ramp,” Cortana spoke over BTS’s words, ignoring him. The tiger grumbled a string of noises and sullenly followed the Chief up the ramp.  
“I’d bet a rat’s left ass the Forerunners who built this place are haunting it,” he continued to grumble. “Their ghosts are glaring at me right now. That must be why I feel like I’m being watched. They’re mad that I’m here.”  
“A rat’s...left ass?” Cortana seemed both amused and confused.  
The lift came floating down from above with a quiet whirring noise, admitting the strange battle party. BTS looked up, squinting; all he could see above was bright, mechanical light. No telling what was up there.  
The lift whirred back to life and they started to rise. The room below them sank away and walls enclosed the lift, greyish walls lit with lines of soft light. BTS wanted to pace, but he withheld the urge, plopping his butt down on the floor instead.  
 _We’re going the wrong way! This Terminus thing better be real useful…_  
He really was more of a “hypotenuse” person; he liked the direct path to getting shit done, even if that involved blasting holes through things. Plus, this place was making him feel antsy. He wanted out.  
The lift continued up for what seemed like forever, eventually slowing down and stopping in a small alcove, open to the next room. It was dimly lit, and the tiger’s eyes adjusted to pierce the gloom. The walls were far away from them, their only path a long bridge leading to a central structure.   
_Forerunners really got an aesthetic thing for pillars. Pillars and buildings that have bottomless pits instead of floors._  
The Chief moved out onto the long bridge, BTS slinking along behind him. He was expecting something to happen, even if it was unicorns suddenly falling from the sky. He didn’t care; anything to ease the tension in his chest. Maybe removing the fuel rod cannon he’d stuffed in there would help.  
 _Yeah I’d sure like to get this POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE thing out of my chest…_  
He observed the pillars as they walked along the bridge; they were all the same design and height. If he wanted to, he could easily jump from pillar to pillar; they weren’t that far apart.  
 _Would be a useful mechanic to have if we got attacked…_  
The Terminus looked like three giant, floating pillars (yep, the Forerunners definitely had an obsession with pillars), the center one toting a strange, disk-like structure. Below it was a console that conveniently looked like it could be interacted with. The Chief stopped in front of said console, removed Cortana’s data chip from the back of his helmet, and inserted it into the machine.  
~


	10. 3.9: Some Robots Join the Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess posting five chapters at once is my apology for not being consistent with uploads...and my preparation for the fact I'm probably not going to post again for a bit.

3.9: Some Robots Join the Party

Cortana’s avatar popped up on top of the Terminus console, and the three big pillars started to move, making BTS flatten his ears. The platform shuddered, and the entire thing started to move. That was a little unsettling.  
The tiger shook his head, dispelling his anxiety. There wasn’t anything anyone could throw at him that he wouldn’t be willing to fight, and the Chief seemed unworried. Between the two of them, they could probably take on almost anything. But that still didn’t mean he liked it when the ground started floating on its own accord.  
 _Well, unless we run into someone else with god-like powers. That could be a problem._  
“According to the Cathedral, this Terminus is just one node of a larger transit grid that spans the entire planet…” Cortana said. She trailed off at the end of her words, seeming confused.  
“What?” the Chief asked.  
“When I tried to access the outlet closest to Infinity's transmissions, the system responded with this,” she told him, the console bringing up a glyph of some sort. BTS cocked his head; wasn’t something he recognized.  
“What is it?” the Chief asked again.  
“Fabulous question,” BTS agreed.  
“That's the kicker,” Cortana explained. “It's the Forerunner symbol for Reclaimer.” Did she look a little...upset?  
“Humanity,” the Chief said with certainty. “That's got to be Infinity. Can you get us to those coordinates?”  
“Let me try to open a portal,” the AI replied. She began to fiddle with the console.  
BTS’s ears swiveled around. He had heard something.  
“Movement!” he growled, head turning. The pillars were rising from the abyss of the room.  
“Cortana!” the Chief said urgently.  
“Something’s incoming!” the tiger growled, mouth parted as he drew air across his sensors. His vision overlaid with infrared.  
“I'm picking up unknown energy signatures,” Cortana reported. She seemed nervous, flying through interactions with the Terminus.  
“Where?” the Chief asked. What a master of one-word questions he was.  
“Tops of the pillars!” BTS growled, having pinpointed the signatures. “Bogies teleporting in!”  
“This can’t be right!” Cortana muttered behind them.  
The tops of the pillars lit up blue, and strange, insectoid beings appeared, strange and mechanical in appearance. The tiger’s sensors told him that they were machines, inorganic to the core. Killer Forerunner robots?  
“Set a waypoint out of the tower,” the Chief ordered. BTS crouched, baring his teeth and growling at the machines.  
“I’ll shred every one of you from here to next Sunday!” he threatened them. “One foot off those pillars and you’ll be scrap metal!”  
To his delight, the machines didn’t leave their posts, hissing and growling and shuffling the wing-like structures on their backs. They didn’t seem like they were planning on moving from their positions.  
“Yeah, that’s right,” the tiger taunted. “Stay where you are, weenies!”  
“Cortana,” the Chief said, sounding a little annoyed.  
A portal suddenly appeared at the edge of the platform. Cortana turned around, looking confused.  
“How did..?” she didn’t pause to question it for long. A portal was a portal. “Quick, into the portal!”  
The Chief grabbed her data chip from the console, never letting his eyes off the nearest enemy. The machine screamed, crouching.  
BTS roared back, planting himself between the Chief and the creature. It hissed in displeasure and teleported away.  
“Chief, go!” Cortana yelled. The Spartan charged into the portal, vanishing. The tiger growled at the room one more time before he ran after him, leaping from the platform and into the swirling vortex.  
The travel through the portal lasted some unknown but very short period of time (thank goodness, because the tiger had somehow started spinning during the process, and the spinning was slowly speeding up). It spat them out in a small, safe-looking room with a door at one end.  
Well, BTS didn’t see the door at first because he came out of the portal upside-down and backwards. He shot right over the Chief’s head and landed on his back with his butt to the door, yowling in protest and waving his unsheathed claws through the air like a cat trying to maul an unwanted belly-scratcher. He quickly realized that his situation was safe, and drew all four paws tight against himself, grumbling embarrassedly. He rolled himself over, remaining crouched to the ground with his ears back.  
“Well then,” Cortana said humorously.  
“What were those things?” the Chief asked the more important question.  
“Some sort of advanced defense AIs,” Cortana reported her best deduction. “Related to the Sentinels, I’m guessing, but it’s hard to say without a closer look.”  
“A closer look, my ass,” BTS muttered. “They were armed and they were angry. Enough said.”  
“Let's figure out where that transit system dumped us,” Cortana continued, ignoring the black tiger’s jab.  
The Chief walked by the tiger, the door opening in response. BTS turned himself around and trotted after the Spartan, tail twitching.  
His ears pricked up and he lifted his head curiously. They had just entered a very large, mostly empty space, and it was imbued with strange, resonant energy signatures. And he could throw a guess as to the origin of the signatures - the glowing purplish sphere in the center of the room.  
The little path they were standing on ended at a platform still quite far from the sphere. It was closer to the rounded walls than to the center of the room; BTS could watch the walls as they stretched away into the abyss in all directions. The room was huge.  
“We’re in a sphere,” he observed. “A small one compared to the size of the planet.”  
“Put me in the console,” Cortana was speaking to the Chief. The tiger walked around the back of the terminal, where the platform dropped down a little and ended. It was the closest point to the sphere without taking flight, and he stretched his neck out like a pointing dog as he sniffed the air.  
 _Real strange. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. These Forerunner folks use completely different variations of energy for most of their doings, I guess._  
But still, it was different from the energy of the Dreadnought. Perhaps that was since the two objects, planet and ship, had such different uses?  
He heard the electronic fizz of Cortana popping up in the terminal. She was silent for a moment, observing everything.  
“Where’s Infinity?” the Chief asked.   
“This is Requiem’s core, alright, but Infinity is definitely not here,” the AI responded. BTS pricked his ears up. Well, at least they knew where they were.  
“That satellite in the center is amplifying the ship's broadcasts like a relay,” the AI lady continued. She had pulled up a holographic panel and was interacting with it busily.  
“Maybe we can use it to respond,” the Chief suggested.  
“Perhaps,” Cortana agreed, but sounded a little unsure. She poked at the holograph some more.  
“Those beams coming off of it are creating the interference we've been experiencing. We'd have to take them out to contact Infinity,” she reported.  
“Can you get us there?” the Chief asked.  
Cortana pressed a few buttons on the screen. “Opening a gate to the first beam pylon. Pull me, and let's go,” she ordered. Some of the platform’s structure rearranged, creating a portal. BTS turned to face it, ears forwards confidently. The Chief took Cortana’s chip from the terminal and they made for the portal.  
“Here goes nothing,” the tiger growled, hoping he wouldn’t start spinning again, and jumped through the portal after the Spartan.  
He shot out of the portal on his back again, landing with a loud clang. “Damnit!” he cursed, waving his paws and rolling over. He swore he heard Cortana chuckle.  
Meanwhile, the Chief had been observing the small room they’d entered with a sort of disappointment. “This is the first pylon? There’s not much here.”  
“Negative, this is as close as I could get us,” Cortana said apologetically. “Hope you don't mind hoofing it a little.”  
They walked through the doorway, which opened to show a small, tight canyon. The canyon opened into a small valley, the pylon itself in the distance, firing energy into the sky with a crackling sound. It was a little strange, seeing this natural formation and knowing it was on the inside of a massive, many-layered shell acting like a planet.  
“Contacts!” Cortana yelled. There were multiple, quadruped machines on the walls of the canyon; however, they fled on sight, vanishing over the lip of the rocks. They moved just like animals, scuttling on nimble legs.  
“Some sort of unknown-construct entities,” the tiger reported, squinting. “They’re made from super-strong alloys and hardlight. But I can’t tell what’s powering them; the signatures aren’t something I’ve come across before.”  
“I have a feeling they’ll be back,” the Chief said, readying his weapon.  
BTS flicked his tail. “It’ll be the last thing they ever do.”  
The canyon curved around to the right; across the ground were scattered boulders and some fissures containing glowing yellow material. The tiger put his head down and sniffed one curiously; it smelled of stone and energy. Whatever it was, it was somewhat natural to the landscape.  
“And they’re back!” Cortana yelled from up ahead. The Chief, with less interest in the glowing rocks, had moved around the corner of the canyon, and more of the crawling machines had popped up. This time, they weren’t running away.  
“Crawling down the walls!” Cortana was still yelling. She seemed more worried than she needed to be, though; by the time BTS had caught up to them, the Chief had eliminated all but two of the machines. One had its back to the black tiger; he pounced without a second thought and brought a massive paw down on the creature’s back; it crushed under the blow and disintegrated into pieces.  
“They aren’t very tough,” he grumbled, a bit disappointed by the ease of execution. “And they don’t leave much of a corpse to loot.”  
“Those weren't the same things we saw in the Terminus,” the Chief reminded him. It was a good thought; those robots had been larger and probably much more dangerous than these.  
“Similar cortical footprints as the tower AIs, though,” Cortana mentioned. “They're connected, all right.”  
The Chief walked up to a small terminal and pressed a green button; a hardlight bridge appeared, spanning the small gorge in front of them.  
“Wow, how convenient,” BTS commented, flicking his ears. Something pinged against his right shoulder; he swung his head around to see two more of the little buggers running towards them. He growled idly, energy turret extending from his back. A barrage of bolts quickly atomized the enemies.  
“No shields, no problem,” he chuckled. Brushing his shoulder off, he made a mental note of how the weapon had affected his shields. The buggars seemed to fire some type of ionized particles from their pincer-mouths, and it had a similar effect on his shields as plasma weaponry, but slightly less intense.  
The Chief was across the bridge; the tiger bounded after him, not wanting to be left behind. The canyon continued around to the left, the high walls making the tiger suspicious. Anything could be hiding up there. It was the perfect place to stage an ambush, like Old West bandits dropping onto an unsuspecting caravan.  
It turned out he wasn’t wrong.  
Something dropped from the cliffs above; since he was still many paces behind the Chief, he spotted it as soon as it moved. Cortana yelled something - words but he didn’t really hear them clearly - and the thing landed on top of the Chief with a loud crash. Its stay was short-lived, however; the tiger’s jaws locked around its neck and he dragged it away from the Spartan with the momentum of his leap. The construct screamed, taken by surprise. Its shields were grating under the tiger’s teeth, trying to resist his crushing bite force.  
Something painfully struck him across his back, making his shields flare up angrily. He howled through clenched teeth and jumped off of the thing, wrenching his head to the side as he did. With an ear-grating shriek of both the construct and its metal parts, he managed to twist its head into an awkward, sideways position as he departed.  
The thing continued to scream, taking a stumbling step sideways. It still seemed quite lively, despite the fact that BTS has rotated its head by ninety degrees. On one waving arm was the glowing, orange hardlight blade that the tiger had felt across his back.  
“Well, aren’t you ugly,” he growled. The plated armor that surrounded the machine’s “head” had been split down the middle by the damage, revealing a slice of some glowing blue interior. Overall, it made the thing look like a space-age version of a creepy animatronic.  
Judging by the mixture of screeching and gunfire, there was a second construct behind him. But there was no time to waste; one glance over his shoulder and the injured machine would be on top of him. They moved way faster than something of their size would entail.  
He snarled at his opponent, but instead of attacking, it gave a defeated shriek and vanished, teleporting away.  
“Aw, come on!” he complained. “Coward!”  
A second pop behind him alerted him to the departure of the other machine. He looked over his shoulder, relieved to see the Chief in one piece.  
“Well that was strange,” he commented. “I don’t know about you, but they didn’t seem like the type to retreat.”  
“Going to find their buddies, probably,” Cortana predicted. “They knew better than to try and take us without backup. We better keep a sharp eye out.”  
“They’ve got something glowing and blue under their helmets,” BTS told them. “Might be part of their internal systems. Hopefully it’s highly sensitive and will explode catastrophically on impact.”  
“If only everything was that easy,” Cortana said wistfully.  
“But if you’re the one hitting it, don’t you want it to not explode catastrophically?” the Chief pointed out.  
“Eh,” the tiger replied dismissively. “Details, details.”  
With no more interlopers ready to land on them, they continued at their hurried pace. The canyon took an s-bend (well, it was a backwards s but close enough), and around the second corner was an intersecting gorge. To BTS’s annoyance, more of the constructs were mulling around. And once again, they teleported away like a bunch of sissies.  
“Really?” he muttered.  
“You were just complaining about having to fight the Covenant,” the Chief told him. “And now you’re complaining about not having to fight.”  
“Don’t speak too soon,” Cortana warned them before they could start an argument. “There’s more phasing activity at the edge of my sensors. We're about to get busy.”  
“Finally,” the tiger growled. “I have a kill to finish.”  
He and the Chief ducked behind a rock. “More of those crawler doohickies from the left!” the tiger noted, peeking around their cover. “There’s a big guy out by that doorway, and he just released this flying thing into the air.” Shots of ionized particles whizzed past his nose from the crawlers, and he quickly ducked back into cover.  
The Chief pulled a grenade and tossed it into the pack of crawlers; as soon as it exploded he was out to finish off the rest, leaving BTS alone.  
“Well, you could’ve at least asked me to cover you,” the tiger muttered to himself, watching the Spartan mow through the crawlers. The big robot dude was shooting at him, forcing him to return to cover prematurely. Not that it was a faulty strategy or anything, it would just take longer.  
 _He’s been flying solo for so long and he’s really not one for talking things out when action works better. I guess I gotta cut him a break._  
The flying thing, looking kind of like a weird, floating owl face, was also shooting at the Chief. It seemed far off the ground, but not too far.  
It didn’t even have time to fire a single shot as the tiger’s jaws closed around its midsection, disc-shaped wings sticking out of either side of his mouth. The metal body crushed and sheared between his teeth, the construct flying apart in a little explosion. Delicious.  
The tiger landed neatly, spitting metal shards from his mouth. The big dude shrieked angrily at him, apparently upset by the loss of its little flying friend.  
“Hey, do you like explosions?” the tiger asked, opening his chest cavity and withdrawing the fuel rod gun. He sat back on his haunches and aimed it at the big robot.  
The thing was meant to be shoulder-mounted, but BTS had no problem operating it on one hand. With a loud, reverberating thunk, a green wad was ejected from the front of the weapon, arcing through the air towards the construct. The projectile moved much slower than BTS had expected, and the construct dodged it easily.  
“Aw, come on!” the tiger complained, waving his free hand in the air. The construct shrieked angrily, staring at him. Suddenly, a bluish flash that was definitely shields breaking surrounded the creature, and a moment later ionized particles burned through its head. With a strange, cut-off cry, the machine...disintegrated?  
“Wait, what?” BTS let his weapon drop. “Is...it dead?”  
The Chief was standing behind where the creature had been, holding one of the little weapons the crawlers carried. “It’s dead,” he confirmed.  
Sounds and senses at the edge of the tiger’s vision alerted him to the teleportation of other machines. But they were going away, not coming to fight.  
A little, floating ball of light was all that was left of the big dude. BTS walked up to it and sniffed it curiously; it smelled of warmth and breath. Life.  
He pinned his ears back, all sorts of warnings flashing in his head. “That’s not alright.”  
~


	11. 3.10: Earth to Infinity P.1

3.10: Earth to Infinity P. 1

“I've discovered something interesting about our new friends,” Cortana offered. “When the big ones explode, that momentary flash we're seeing is actually a data purge.”  
“Can you tap into it?” the Chief asked.  
“So far, I've pulled multiple strings referring to the big ones as "Promethean Knights",” the AI lady reported. “Beyond that, though, things get a bit dense. BTS, maybe you could read into one of these the next chance we get?”  
“I’d be down,” the tiger replied, “but if it’s dense to you it’s probably gonna be dense to me. Nice to have a name for these guys, though. I was getting tired of calling them “the big dudes” and “big killer robots” in my head.”  
“Let’s keep moving,” the Chief broke in, evidently uninterested in a conversation about nomenclature.  
They exited the space through a short overhang, then through another door that opened for them. On the way, the Chief stopped to loot some of the mechanical corpses, tossing aside the now-empty Forerunner weapon for a larger and fancier-looking one.  
It felt kinda nice to be inside again. No cliffs for big baddies (sorry, Prometheans) to jump down from, no open spaces for things to just pop up and start trying to murder everything. But for all they knew, this place could be full of hidden doors. Best to be alert at all times.  
“Hey look, free stuff!” BTS trotted up to a little alcove in the wall, adorned with a few weapons. It had four of those smaller, ionized-particle-shooting guns and four larger weapons, though whatever the Chief currently had was different. What he found most interesting, though, were two spiky objects hung next to the guns.  
“Grenades,” the Chief said, picking them up and taking them along. Wow, what a nice and concise explanation.  
With the big orange blob-launcher stuffed in his chest, BTS didn’t have room for much else, so he left the weapons alone and followed the Chief up the hall. There was a door at the end; they were going to have to go outside again, into robot hell. Great. Just great.  
Two blips signalled the arrival of two Knights beyond their exit, and the Chief wasted no time in moving to cover and firing at his chosen target. BTS dug his paws into the ground and gave his back a nice stretch before following, yawning with all his teeth exposed. “Gotta be limber for these fights, man,” he said to nobody in particular. His energy turret deployed from his back again, barrel turning to follow his gaze.  
The second Knight was off to the right, trying to get a bead on the Chief, who was behind a rock. BTS powered his turret and let loose a barrage, hammering the construct. Its return-fire chased after his tail as he circled it, peppering it with more energetic shots. He made a close pass by the Knight, just out of reach of its hardlight blade, and slashed it across its abdomen with the razor-sharp tip of his tail. The blow broke its shields, and he put a few more bolts of energy into it to finish it off.  
In the flow of the tussle, he’d gone around the right side of a large rock pillar, separating him from the Chief. He couldn’t see the Spartan, but he could hear the specific sound of the weapon he was carrying, so hopefully he was still up and running. He didn’t have time to check in on him.  
Ionized shots struck his back; more of the little crawlers were coming up the way. He turned, tanking the shots, and charged the little machines, paws flashing left and right as he smashed, slashed, and threw, the unshielded creatures shredding like cardboard under his claws.  
His tirade brought him down and around the corner of the rock formation, where he spotted another Knight. It saw him and wasted no time to shoot him, bursts of bright particles emanating from its weapon. The tiger retreated, making note that the particles flew and spread like those of a shotgun. Best not get too close.  
The Knight had another flyer with him, so BTS decided to focus that first. He was calculating a leap when bolts of hardlight flew over his head, neatly destroying the machine.  
The Chief was here, and with all his limbs, thankfully. “Knight’s got a shotgun or something,” BTS warned him. The tiger had scaled a small cliff and was now looking over the plain where the Knight was. It was watching for him, waiting for a target to get in range of its weapon.  
The Chief ran around the corner of the rock, surprising it. As soon as its gaze left the cliff, BTS leapt, clearing the space between him and it in the blink of an eye. He tackled the Knight, breaking its shields with the force, and crushed its head in his jaws. The construct melted away from beneath him, and he quickly remembered to pay attention to the data purge.  
“Promethean Knights,” he said. “Yeah, it’s a lot of gibberish. But the small crawling things are in fact called Crawlers. And the weapons have names too...boltshot, suppressor, lightrifle...what this guy had is called a scattershot. Yup, it’s a shotgun.”  
“Anything else?” Cortana asked.  
BTS shook his head. “Sorry, but I can’t decipher any more. I’m not used to reading these inputs.”  
“Best keep moving and not worry about it, then,” Cortana concluded.  
Their path wrapped around to the left, and was thankfully free of bogies. BTS spotted a platform that looked suspiciously helpful to their cause for some reason, and his ears pricked up.  
“The relay interference is increasing. We must be getting close to the pylon,” Cortana said. “BTS, can you listen into our COMs?”  
“I’d need to be patched in,” the tiger replied. “And as of now, I have no transponders to do that with, except for the Chief’s. And I’m not going to eavesdrop on y’all without permission.”  
“Feel free to take a listen,” Cortana told him. “You may be able to help us decipher the transmissions.”  
“Rodger dodger.” BTS could sense the Chief’s COMs systems just like he could sense the relays between Covenant-class vessels and individuals; they weren’t that much different. And they were very easy to listen in to.  
Speaking of listening...the tiger’s ears swiveled around to the back. “Crawlers from the rear. Coming down the walls.”  
While the Chief shot at them from behind cover, BTS focused on knocking them off the walls, where they had a height advantage that made some cover useless. It was boring work, really. They weren’t a challenge at all to deal with; they were weak healthwise, had few defenses, and could be kited pretty well. Grunts in robotic, Forerunner form.  
“BTS, would you mind handing over that hardlight shield module?” Cortana asked. “I think we’ll find it useful now. And you don’t seem like you’re going to use it.”  
“Sure thing,” the tiger opened his chest cavity and reached around the fuel rod cannon to where the module had been stuffed. “Here you go.”  
The shield, it turned out, was large enough to be mobile cover, and could deflect the Crawlers’ shots. Sweet deal! Another one of those flying things made the mistake of coming into view. It crunched very nicely between BTS’s teeth as soon as he took flight to chase it.  
Something peppered his rump and he quickly flew back to cover, spitting metal pieces from his mouth. A Knight jumped towards their platform, making angry clicking noises. The Chief shot the thing, distracting it from trying to attack the flying tiger.  
“Any idea where we have to go next?” BTS grumbled, half to himself. With all this fighting, he was getting turned in circles. He carefully scanned his surroundings, reminding himself of where he had come from and where he needed to go. He identified an exit point along the stone wall.  
“I can give you a lift across the little valley here to that cave,” he offered the Chief once the Knight was dead. “Those last few Crawlers down there aren’t worth our time.”  
He expected the Chief to possibly disagree, and he did have a moment of hesitation, but then he nodded. BTS landed and dipped his shoulder so the Spartan could jump onto his back.  
A leap and a glide was all it took to get across the small space, the tiger landing neatly at the mouth of the small tunnel.  
“What’s that distortion?” the Chief was talking to Cortana. BTS, feeling that their conversation was private, chose not to listen in.  
The Chief dismounted and walked through the tunnel. “Are you...going to be alright?”  
BTS flattened his ears. _She’s not getting better….this is so SAD...and also CUTE and I would probably be murdered for calling this CUTE but whatever. I said it. It’s CUTE. Ah, dear, I can already feel the tomatoes being hurled at me.  
I hope we get home soon._  
They walked up a slope and into another empty structure. Mysterious humming noises were audible at the edge of BTS’s hearing, almost like the singing of some drifting creature. He hoped he wasn’t imagining it. One nutty AI was enough.  
The Chief walked through a door in the mouth of the structure, and once the tiger was through as well, it closed behind them. There was something reassuring about having the solid metal keeping the Forerunner robots out. Or, at least, the illusion that the door was strong enough to do that.  
There was a supply drop on a short side spur of the tunnel, nothing there of much worth except ammunition. BTS left the Chief to pick through the loot and poked his nose through the door leading onwards.  
“There’s another structure beyond here,” he called. “It’s got shields up and bogies crawling around.”  
“That’s our target, alright,” Cortana replied, voice becoming louder as the Chief walked up. “We’ll have to figure out how to get those shields down.”  
“Better start shooting,” the Chief decided.  
“We’ve got a vantage point from here,” BTS agreed, half musing to himself. His energy turret aimed up as he lifted his head to pinpoint targets.  
“Where we planning on going?” he asked, tail twitching.  
“Wherever the power cores for these shields are,” Cortana replied.  
“Huh,” BTS huffed. “I got three hits. Signatures are right for a core. Y’all got me covered so I can get to them?”  
“Go for it,” the Chief ordered.  
BTS jumped down from the ledge, hitting the ground at a run. He veered to the right, and went around the side of a squat structure. An opening led into the small room, which held nothing but a glowing orb that looked very much like a power core.  
“Bingo!” he purred. He spun around so his rump was to the room and lashed out at the core with his tail, the bladed tip disrupting and destabilizing them. As predicted, the core suffered a slight explosion, making BTS happy his head was pointed the other way. Oh, right, he had a big energy turret on his back. Could have used that.  
Two more cores. The nearest one had a pack of Crawlers and a Knight hanging around it. Without hesitation, the black tiger charged the Crawlers, shredding and crushing them under his claws as ionized shots burnt out against his shields. The Knight took notice, the tiger quickly took cover as a scattered burst of ionized particles whizzed through where he had just been.  
“Have some explosive goop!” he yelled, withdrawing the fuel rod cannon from his chest cavity and firing it around the corner. The Knight was close enough to him that the shot was actually effective, judging by the pissed-off scream following the explosion. The tiger bounded around the corner and thumped the Knight with the weapon, killing it.  
“I made that shot count,” he chuckled, putting the weapon away.  
In his moment of gloating, he was broadsided by a Knight charging down a ramp. The tiger yowled angrily and rolled out of harm’s way, a hardlight blade hitting the ground right near his head. He lashed his tail at the Knight, tangling its legs and tripping it. Just as fast as it was down, it was up, but so was the tiger.  
“Asshat!” BTS yelled, pouncing. He pinned the Knight’s blade arm and proceeded to savage it’s shields with his claws until he broke through and sliced it’s arm right off. He yanked the arm around and stabbed its former owner with it.  
“Asshat,” he repeated in a grumble, shaking to try and get rid of the stinging feeling in his armor. His shields neatly recharged.  
The second core was in a structure identical to the first, and BTS destroyed it with his energy turret. When he did, something large and energetic powered down.  
 _The Chief must’ve gotten the third core before I got this one. Better go find him and meet back up._  
It seemed logical to head to the pylon, rather than run in circles trying to find the Spartan amongst all the structures. BTS trotted his way there, pausing once or twice to crush more Crawler skulls.  
 _Aw, balls._ There were two more Knights guarding the entrance to the pylon, and they didn’t seem friendly. One spotted the tiger and lobbed a grenade at him.  
 _Oi!_ BTS scampered out of the way. The grenade exploded, creating some sort of spooky particle field. The tiger fired his energy turret at the Knight, draining its shields. Shots hit it from behind, and it disintegrated with a shriek. The second Knight turned, torn between two enemies, and teleported away.  
“He’s up top!” the tiger called, senses following the energetic path the Knight’s teleportation had created. He jumped up onto a wall, trying to get eyes on the Knight.  
“Door’s open!” Cortana yelled back. A third Knight teleported onto the battlefield, weapons blazing.  
“On second thought, we’ll be leaving now!” BTS yelled. He jumped from his perch and dashed over to the doorway, following the Chief through. The door shut behind them, the thump of shots hitting it following them up the ramp.  
“That other guy is going to be up here,” Cortana cautioned. “And his friend is probably gonna join us.”  
“I’ve got the friend,” BTS promised. “You get the other guy.”  
They rounded the top of the ramp, and the tiger swept his senses over the field. The two Knights were still hanging around, and one was still on the ground.  
 _Cowabunga!_ BTS donned his supercloak and leapt off the edge of the platform, wings emerging from his back. The unwary Knight below was struck by a rain of energy bolts, followed by a sharp tail to the face as the tiger flew low over its head. Its shields splintered, and the tiger shot a bolt through its head to finish it off. He returned to the platform, folding up his wings.  
A burst of static filled his mind, and he realized he was intercepting a transmission that the Chief was receiving. Quickly, he scurried back to where the Spartan was picking up the weapon of the Knight he had just killed.  
“That's Requiem!” Cortana exclaimed. “They're not inside the planet at all…they’re moving towards it.”  
“Infinity?” BTS asked. The Chief nodded.  
“We better keep moving,” he said grimly.  
~


	12. 3.11: Earth to Infinity P. 2

3.11: Earth to Infinity P. 2

The trio moved up another ramp and around to a long bridge that led into the pylon itself. Parts of the bridge were made of hardlight, making BTS nervously wonder if they would vanish as soon as someone stepped on them. Thankfully, they didn’t, and the two moved into a keyhole-shaped tunnel that was lit so brightly it was almost blinding.  
The tunnel ended on a lift with a terminal that had a very inviting green button. Through an energetic barrier, BTS could see a bright pillar of light running up the center of the pylon. The Chief pressed the button, and the elevator started up.  
More static. “This is Captain Andrew Del Rio, hailing BTS and any other survivors,” the transmission read, very garbled and jumbled.  
BTS pricked up his ears. “BTS? They’re looking for me?” He was surprised. The captain had mentioned him by name...he thought the tiger was alive.  
“They must have received one of those transmissions you sent out while we were floating through space,” Cortana suggested. “How do you think they followed us here, though?”  
“Blue would have been able to age the signal and determine its linear direction to get a point of origin,” BTS explained. “I put our trajectory relative to the direction of the signals in the transmission. We should’ve been travelling in a straight line, so they just would've followed it from the point of origin. But...if Blue was involved, why isn’t she here?”  
“If Infinity gets too close, they could be pulled into the planet,” Cortana warned. “We need to get this beam down so we can warn them.”  
The elevator shuddered to a halt, doors opening. In front of them was a large, spinning device projecting the beam of light into...that was the floating sphere they’d seen before, wasn’t it?  
In front of the machine was a console, and the Chief wasted no time in going up to it and grabbing some internal part. He pulled back on the handle of a heavy metal cylinder, the machine’s whirring rising in pitch as he did. Whatever the shutoff protocol was, it required a whole lot of brute strength.  
The Chief reoriented the cylinder and slammed it back into the console. The beam vanished, the machine stopped spinning, and the whole thing sank into the floor.  
“It’s working,” Cortana reported. “The signal from the relay is starting to clear up.”  
A much clearer transmission echoed in BTS’s head. “...The location array is pointing to the target being inside the planet.”  
“Location array?” the tiger questioned. “I think I know what they’re using. Blue must’ve worked her ass off to get the parts for such a thing…”  
“Why are they here?” Cortana asked. “Why not Blue?” She was echoing his confusion.  
“Maybe they were the only ones who received my signal. And maybe they think you’re here too,” BTS replied. “But...she would have come with them. She would be calling for me, trying to use our telepathy. And she hasn’t, so she’s...not here…” He felt a bit heavier, thinking about it.  
“They haven’t hit the gravity well yet,” the Chief stated. At the end of the platform, a portal appeared. “We have to keep moving.”  
“There's still too much interference to warn them,” Cortana agreed. “We've got to disable that other beam before they're pulled in like we were.”  
“Onward!” BTS proclaimed, pointing to the portal. Trying to brush aside all the thoughts clamouring in his head. Had Infinity simply not collaborated with Blue to track him down? Or had she just...not been able to come?  
They were warped through the portal, back to the small room leading into the large chamber housing the floating sphere. This time, the portal on the other side of the platform was already active.  
They were just about to enter the portal when a few bursts of energy flared up, and three Covenant light cruisers, escorted by Phantoms, exited slipspace within the hollow sphere. The fleet was headed for the second pylon.  
BTS flattened his ears. “Well, well, well, look who’s finally decided to show up,” he muttered.  
“I was wondering why Infinity hadn't encountered the Covenant yet,” Cortana agreed. “Strange, seeing that there were so many ships hanging around this planet before.”  
“What are they doing here?” the Chief asked.  
“They're heading to the second pylon as well,” Cortana observed.  
“This can’t be a coincidence,” the Chief told her.  
“Maybe the Prometheans and the Covenant will be so busy fighting we’ll be able to stroll right through,” BTS wished.  
“If only,” Cortana agreed.  
They wasted no time in jumping through the next portal, BTS managing to not land on his back as they exited. It had placed them in a hallway, leaving them relatively hidden and sheltered, for now.   
“Sounds like the Prometheans don't want the Covenant here, either,” Cortana told them. “The battlenet's already lighting up with reports of resistance all around the pylon.”  
“Good,” BTS said, unsheathing and resheathing his claws, enjoying the scraping sound they made against the floor.  
The hallway led into a narrow canyon; the tiger could hear Covenant weapons fire in the distance, echoing off the rocks. Their canyon was empty, however, up to where it ended, dropping into a lower fissure of rock.  
“Baddies incoming,” BTS reported, scanning in thermal. “A bunch of drop pods are falling, and there’s Prometheans on the ground ready to receive them. We can just sit back, and let them skewer each other...”  
“We can’t just sit around and wait for them to kill each other,” Cortana urged. “We don’t have that kind of time.”  
“She’s right,” the Chief agreed.   
BTS huffed and flattened his ears. “I know...wishful thinking.”  
With loud thumps, the drop pods landed, and the Prometheans wasted no time in getting down to their bloody business.  
The battlefield quickly became a total mess, the Covenant running this way and that, seemingly unprepared for the amount of resistance they were receiving from the Prometheans. They were gone from the battlefield without too much time lost and a lot of blood on BTS’s claws. The much tougher Prometheans remained, though not in large numbers.  
A very particular whirring sound caught BTS’s attention, and he turned his head to spot the Chief moving up the side of the rock wall, having found a sloping path. A very angry-looking beam of light near to took his head off as he retreated into cover, leaving an acrid-smelling burn mark across the rocks.  
 _Some sort of turret, along with those flying buggers and perhaps some more._ BTS unfolded his wings and flew up to the Chief, dropping in behind cover.  
“Hello,” he said, for no particular reason. The Chief just sorta stared at him. “Um...hi?” he replied.  
BTS quickly peered around the corner of the rock before the situation got any more awkward. As soon as the turret saw him, it started charging up with that loud whirr.  
“Damn turret,” he grumbled. “Those flying robots put that up there, didn’t they? How much does that beam hurt?”  
“I’m not interested in finding out,” the Chief replied. “But be my guest if you want to.”  
“I’ll tank it if I have to,” the tiger promised, and broke from cover. No sense in waiting around like these guys were gonna go away.  
The beam turret started charging up again, filling the air with that ominous whirring sound. BTS had enough time to take out one of the flying dudes before he had to hop, skip, and jump out of the beam’s path, feeling the ionized particles brush past his rear. They, individually, didn’t hurt more than a typical ionized particle, but there were so many of them that he didn’t want to take any unnecessary damage. The hurt could stack up quick.  
The beam turret started to charge again, but then exploded into golden particles. BTS rumbled approvingly.  
Their path ended in a rocky tunnel, leading to the other side of the wall. A single Knight was lurking around.  
The hum of Covenant vehicle engines caught his attention, and two Ghosts came zooming down the path towards them. The Knight teleported away, hissing.  
“Bye!” BTS yelled. The Knight flashed back into existence and slammed the driver out of one Ghost. The empty Ghost came to a halt past the scene, hovering patiently. The other Ghost sped off, driver cursing, as the Knight vanished again.  
The Sangheili, knocked from his Ghost but still alive, attempted to stand back up and received a hardlight bullet to the head for his efforts. The Promethean reappeared beyond the Ghost, but BTS was ready for him and cut him down with his turret.  
The Chief was already jumping on the free Ghost, and away he went into the valley, leaving BTS to run after him.  
More Covenant and Prometheans were fighting here, struggling for domination. In this particular zone, they seemed to be a little more balanced.  
“Why don’t we just go by them and into that tunnel?” BTS pointed out where he meant to go with his nose as he ran next to the Ghost. “These guys are gonna be occupied with each other for years!”  
“I’ll clear the tunnel entrance,” the Chief said. “You cover behind us.”  
“Rodger dodger,” the tiger replied.  
The Chief drove his Ghost right up to the firefight, taking advantage of the vehicle’s shields and unlimited ammunition. He mowed down targets with relative ease, clearing them a path and quickly following it. BTS dashed after him, turret firing over his rear as he instructed it to aim in the opposite direction from his gaze. He followed the Ghost-riding Chief down the rocky tunnel. A wide door at the base of another structure opened, admitting them. The hallways were wide and tall, giving the Ghost plenty of room.  
More static buzzed in BTS’s brain.  
“I didn’t catch any of that,” he said. “Did you?”  
“The relay's signal is breaking up again,” Cortana agreed. “We're almost to the beam.”  
Another door opened to admit them into an open space surrounding the second pylon. This time, it was inhabited by a whole lot of Covenant, and BTS could hear Banshees flying around.  
“I got the Banshees,” he said. “Let’s get these cores down.”  
He unfolded his wings and jumped into the air, engines firing off. His red gaze found the nearest Banshee, and he donned his supercloak to sneak up on it.  
The pilot of said Banshee cursed in surprise as a heavy weight landed on his roof. He cursed again as he saw black-metal jaws close around one of his wings and rip it partly from the fuselage. With another jerk of his head, the tiger tore the wing all the way off and let the crippled Banshee crash into the ground.  
One down...definitely more to go.  
Down below, the Chief was just about to shut down the second power core. He’d swapped for a new Ghost, his old one a smoldering wreck. Huh; that had happened suddenly.  
BTS landed on top of a group of Unggoy, splaying his legs out so he squashed them all at once. One of the bodies went whizzing off through the air, methane tank punctured.  
An electrical buzz echoed through the pylon as the last core was destroyed, shutting down the shields. They’d made good time in doing so, but the ground was still crawling with Covenant.  
The Chief drove his Ghost right up the ramp leading to the pylon, not a single shit given. BTS followed him, chased by needle rounds and bursts of plasma.  
The Ghost, unfortunately, could not be taken all the way up to the pylon bridge, and the Chief parked it nicely by ramming a Sangheili into the wall with it.  
“Classy,” BTS commented. “I can tell you aced your driving exam.”  
BTS followed the Spartan up the ramp and across the glowing bridge, moving quickly to avoid getting shot by the leftover Covenant below. They passed through the keyhole tunnel and onto the elevator, which the Chief quickly activated.  
The tiger sensed an incoming transmission. “UNSC Infinity to survivors, we’re reading a faint IFF tag near the planetary core, do you read?”  
“IFF?” BTS asked. “I’m not sending that out.”  
“Identification, friend or foe,” Cortana explained. “They must be picking up the signal from the Chief. Infinity, this is UNSC AI Cortana. Do not approach the Forerunner planet! Repeat, do not approach-”  
“Infinity to UNSC asset!” the transmission garbled. “We read you, but you're breaking up! Helm, increase speed by point-seven. Get us up to this thing-” the elevator door opened up.  
“Negative, Infinity!” Cortana yelled, panicked. “Do not approach the planet!” the Chief ran to the terminal and grabbed the metal cylinder.  
“UNSC Infinity, this is BTS,” BTS tried to contact the ship as well, though he had to speak through his connection to the Spartan’s transmitters since the ship was too far away (and blocked by too many layers of planet and interference) for him to hack into its comms directly. “Whatever you do, don’t approach this damn planet!”  
“If you can hear us, keep transmitting,” the transmission stated, making the tiger slam a paw into the ground in frustration.  
“They can’t hear us,” he growled.  
“They will now,” the Chief grunted, and slammed the cylinder back into place.  
~


	13. 3.12: What Do You Mean, You Don't Know Me?

3.12: What Do You Mean, You Don’t Know Me?

“Cortana to Infinity, do you copy? Come in, Infinity!” Cortana ended on a frustrated note. “The interference is gone, but your suit's transmitter is not strong enough.”  
“BTS to Infinity,” the tiger repeated. “Do you copy?” he was reaching out on the edges of his senses, trying to get a strong enough hold on the ship’s systems to patch in. He could sense the presence of the ship, its great energy, but it was through so many layers of planet that he could barely get his mind through to sense it. There was no way he could get into its comms.  
“Route us up to the relay satellite,” the Chief ordered Cortana. He jumped through the portal that appeared at the end of the room, cutting off Cortana’s reply from BTS.  
“Ok then,” the tiger took a deep breath and jumped after them, clenching his teeth against the nausea of the teleport.  
“-there's bound to be a central control point,” Cortana was saying to the Chief on the other side. Beyond them was the open room, with the satellite hanging in the center, now free from the energy that had been washing over it. Another portal appeared at the end of the platform, central this time.  
“The Covenant are moving towards the relay, too,” the Spartan observed, looking into the space.  
“This doesn't make any sense! Why would they care about a broadcast relay?” Cortana questioned.  
“We’ll handle them; you just find us that control node,” the Chief told her. He looked back at BTS once before jumping through the portal.  
Yet another head-spinning teleport brought the two right up to the sphere, which loomed ominously above them, grey with glowing orange lines. BTS shook his entire body, trying to rid himself of the jitters. The sphere radiated strange energy, and being this close to it made his systems jumpy.  
The hum of a Phantom’s engines became audible. The Chief looked around. “How long until Infinity hits the gravity well?”  
“Maybe five minutes, if they’re quick,” Cortana told him. “Not a huge, huge rush…”  
A bunch of Unggoy dropped from the Phantom. BTS lunged forwards, covering almost twenty feet of distance in a heartbeat, and scythed his claws through their ranks. He was backed up by weapons fire from the Chief, and they eliminated the hostiles within seconds.  
“The Covenant are making a push for something on the far side of the satellite,” Cortana observed.  
“Maybe I can catch one of these little guys alive and get him to tell me something,” BTS suggested. “They don’t seem like they’ll take much more than a loud roar to the face to get them to talk.”  
They ran through a doorway on the left, where the Covenant were getting their asses kicked by the Prometheans. The loud whirr of a beam turret caught BTS’s attention, and he observed as two Unggoy got vaporized.  
“Owch,” he said, wincing.  
“They’re pretty occupied,” Cortana said. “Let’s see if we can sneak around them.”  
They scurried up a ramp on the left, into a small structure. A Sangheili was inside, with his back turned to them, and the Chief wasted no time in getting the literal jump on him, stabbing a combat knife into the back of his neck up to the hilt.  
BTS peered around the end of the building. “There’s a few Knights out here…”  
One of the Knights was accompanied by a flyer; the tiger soared through the air and bit the thing in two, landing on the other side of the Knight. It turned, shrieking, and the Chief shot it in the back. BTS lunged and brought both paws down on the construct’s shoulders; its legs crumpled and it crashed to the ground, disintegrating.  
 _Move!_  
He strafed right, kicking himself into the air and onto one of the structures. One of the Knights was shooting at him; he donned his supercloak and charged it, catching it unawares with a headbutt to the chest. He hit it hard enough that it flew backwards, off the edge of the platform, and into the weird, swirling vortex beneath the ominous sphere.  
The dying shriek of the last Knight let him know the coast was clear; he turned and ran up the ramp at the end of their destination, eyes searching for something, anything useful.  
He spotted a group of Sangheili instead; one of them saw him and roared challengingly, eyes narrowing with rage. The tiger roared back, not about to be the quieter of the two.  
The Chief was right behind him as he charged and lunged. He closed his jaws around the first offender’s neck, tasting electricity and metal as he bit through his shields and armor, cutting into flesh and crushing bone. Plasma shots from the Sangheili’s rifle burned against his side, but he ignored it and kept biting down until he felt the life vanish from between his jaws.  
He was being shot by someone else; one of those bastard Knights. The whirr of a beam turret was followed by the unfortunate vaporization of another Sangheili.  
“What’s Infinity’s status?” the Chief asked.  
“They’re still making to enter the gravity well,” Cortana told him. “There are two pillars at the end of this walkway…”  
“And?” the Chief asked.  
“They should let us contact Infinity,” she replied. But she sounded unsure.  
The Chief walked past BTS and up the ramp; the path led closer to the orb. BTS squinted at it; closer proximity only made the signatures of the thing more confusing to try to decipher.  
The two pillars were pretty small and regular-looking (well, regular for Forerunner architecture). Each one was topped with a glowing symbol, clear instructions on how to interact with the machine.  
The Chief put his hands on the symbols. “Infinity, this is Sierra-117. Do you copy?”  
 _“Infinity, this is Sierra-117. Do you copy?”_ the sphere replied in a mocking, distorted voice. BTS felt the bristling of angry energy run down his back and he dug his claws into the ground.  
The sphere started to vibrate, the air around it distorting like it was above asphalt on a very hot day. From beneath, the sphere began to glow molten orange, rising slowly. The Chief stared at it in confusion.  
“Infinity? Do you read?” he repeated. The sphere mockingly imitated him again.  
BTS growled, low in his throat. “I don’t like this…”  
Below them, both the Covenant and Promethean forces had ceased fighting and were staring up at the sphere with a sort of awe.  
“Chief...Chief, let go of the contacts,” Cortana said hurriedly. The Spartan snapped out of his own awestruck state and quickly stepped back from the pillars. BTS’s eyes remained fixed on the sphere, the orange lines across it now jetting vapor and light.  
“Find us an exit,” the Chief ordered.  
“Don't wait around on my account!” the AI urged.  
The Chief darted for cover, vaulting off the walkway and behind a metal barrier. BTS dove after him, and a powerful pulse emanated from the sphere, knocking down all who remained standing, Covenant and Promethean.  
The tiger peered over the barrier at the sphere; the bottom was opening, a small capsule descending from it. His sharp eyes scanned the alien surface-  
“Someone’s there,” he hissed. “And they’ve got no nose. Lord Voldemort has returned, guys.”  
The Chief ducked back behind the barrier. BTS simply donned his supercloak, and walked back up into the platform, perfectly hidden. The view from here was much better.  
 _Hmmm...maybe this explody-goo-thingy would be useful here…_  
He withdrew the fuel rod cannon from his chest cavity and checked the ammo. Two shots left.  
Lord Voldemort was checking out his rad muscles. The tiger aimed the launcher at him, trying to consider if it was worth waiting to see if this fella was friendly or not before firing at him.  
Pieces of armor suddenly materialized from who-knows-where and fixed themselves over the alien’s body. BTS cursed internally. That was going to make things much more difficult if it came down to a firefight.  
He looked back at the Chief. The Spartan seemed to be more interested in hiding than shooting.  
Alien-Voldy took a slow look around. “So fades the great harvest of my betrayal…” his voice was slightly dual-toned and almost robotic, making BTS instinctively bare his teeth. Usually, those kinds of voices belonged to the bad guys.  
Alien-Voldy swept his hand over the crowd of Prometheans and Covenant below him. The air over the constructs shimmered, and their lights turned from blue to orange. The Covenant bowed their heads in reverence, kneeling.  
BTS stalked closer to the edge of the walkway, judging a good angle to take in case he needed to pounce. His vision swept through several modes; the air around them was heavy with energy.  
“Didact…” the word was hissed from the Covenant below, echoing around the room.  
The little platform this Didact was standing on began to float towards them, or rather, where the Chief was. Those red eyes never even once settled upon the tiger. He simply did not exist.  
“Even these beasts recognized what you were oblivious to, human,” the Didact spoke. “Your nobility has blinded you...as ever.” His voice was angry.  
BTS flattened his ears. The Didact was definitely not friendly.  
The Didact’s platform was above and a little to the left of the tiger’s position, not a very good angle for the goo launcher. He stood up onto his hind paws, lifting the launcher to his eyes.  
The barrier in front of the Chief vanished, melting away into orange light. The Didact’s hand came out, and the Spartan was launched into the air, and...was stuck there.  
Two trains of thought raced through the BTS mind-station. One was to return to the Chief and the other was to fire away and worry about everything else later. Somehow, return to the Chief won.  
The tiger bounded back down the platform just in time to grab the Spartan’s foot before the Didact dragged him completely out of reach. The air was shimmering between the two figures; the Didact looked quite confused at the sudden halt of his victim. He pulled mightily, but BTS had over three and a half thousand pounds on his side, plus a very strong, energetic grip on the surface below him.  
 _Think! Think! Use that great v-10 brain of yours!_  
Telekinesis. The guy was either straight-up telekinetic or had some sort of technology that let him telekinetically interact with objects. Both could be foiled with certain methods. But both were also very difficult to foil. This wasn’t good.  
The Didact seemed to be getting frustrated about his inability to drag the Chief closer. But then, the lightbulb went on. “You...had a companion before. They vanished not long ago. Are they perhaps still with you?”  
BTS lashed his tail. No point in staying hidden anymore. He dropped his supercloak. “Hello, asshole.” And he pointed the fuel rod cannon straight at him.  
Two thunks, two blobs of green goo, and two extraordinarily disappointing misses as the Didact redirected his telekinesis to deflect the projectiles away from him. But, it got him to let go of the Chief, and the Spartan fell, swinging by his foot into the wall below him. BTS winced, apologized, and pulled him back up onto the platform. “Really...really sorry about that.”  
“Don’t worry about it,” the Chief grumbled, stumbling back to his feet.  
“I do not know who you are, but your pathetic attempts to resist me are pointless,” the Didact glowered at the tiger. “You have sided with mankind, and thus you will be destroyed along with them. The Mantle will remain forever from their grasp.” He gestured to the surrounding aliens and constructs. “If they have not yet mastered these primitives, then they never will. You serve doomed masters, construct.”  
A powerful force slammed into the tiger. Both he and the Chief were thrown backwards, though the tiger managed to dig his claws into the ground and land relatively upright. Red-hot rage was filling his chest. Who did this bastard think he was?  
The Didact’s platform was rising, back into the glowing sphere. “This tomb shall now become yours. The Forerunners have returned.”  
BTS sensed a powerful fluctuation of energy around them. “Slipspace rupture!” he and Cortana yelled at the same time.  
“Hop on!” the tiger snarled, crouching. He could’ve gone after the Didact; he could’ve flown up there, fought him, seen what happened. He wanted to. There was red-hot rage burning in his chest, making his eyes smolder with infernal light. But he couldn’t leave the Chief behind.  
The Spartan jumped onto his back. The tiger wheeled around, all senses attuned to find an exit portal. He leapt, engines firing, and dove back into the canyonlands, an explosion shaking the sky behind him.  
The atmosphere was shaking, a thrumming vortex filling the sky above them. BTS raced low along the ground, paws tucked up so they wouldn’t skim the stones.  
“I can’t go much higher than this!” he yelled over the ruckus. “The vortex will suck me in!”  
“That...Didact. He manipulated Infinity's signal to get us to release him!” Cortana sounded very angry. “And we still haven’t managed to contact Infinity!”  
“That dumb ball has completely destabilized everything,” BTS emphasized their imminent doom. “I can get us out of here. But I need to know where I gotta fly.”  
“There’s an active portal not far from here,” Cortana told him. “Follow this canyon!”  
“I see it,” the tiger acknowledged. “Hold onto your limbs!”  
~


	14. 3.13: One Way In and One Way Out

3.13: One Way In and One Way Out

BTS soared through the portal Cortana had spotted, emerging on the other side underneath a peaceful blue sky. No more swirling slipspace vortex of doom; that was a relief.  
He cut his engines and flipped his body around, sweeping a curve to return to the cliff he’d overshot. Gratefully, he landed on solid ground.  
“Whew,” he breathed. “I am so sorry for any buggers who don’t have the BTS Express to get them out of there!”  
The Chief jumped off his back, scanning the area. “What’s Infinity’s status?” he asked.  
“No new communications,” Cortana reported. She was silent for a moment, then, “BTS...I think we should try to contact them through you.”  
BTS pricked up his ears. “Sure thing, ma’am. We’re much closer to them now, so maybe I can actually get my signal through, but I’m not sure about patching into their systems as an outsider.”  
“I can help you with that,” the AI promised. “I can amplify your signal as well to get it through the layers of Requiem.”  
The Chief removed Cortana’s chip from the back of his helmet and handed it over to the tiger, who inserted it into the back of his mouth.  
Ok...Cortana’s presence popped up in his mind. _Amplifying. It’ll be a moment._  
“Sure,” the tiger replied idly.  
_How come the Didact didn’t recognize you? He’s Forerunner. I thought your people and their people had many interactions._  
BTS had not expected that question. He frowned a little. _Well, I mean...Blue was well-known, but not me, necessarily. I am just an AI, after all. Even though I’m awesome, people still don’t know who I am.  
...Alright, _Cortana accepted that reluctantly, and BTS resisted the urge to rub one forepaw against the back of his other foreleg. Nervous tick. Cortana was getting too smart about finding the holes in his and Blue’s fake identities.  
_Amplification online. Where are they?_  
The tiger reached his mind out, searching for that source of energy. He found it, high above them, just another sea of light amongst the blinding glow that was the artificial planet.  
“I’ve got them,” he reported. “Patch me in.”  
His mind was suddenly opened, a link forming between him and the ship. Data rushed to him, and sounds blared in his ears.  
“UNSC Infinity, this is BTS,” he rumbled. “Come in, Infinity.”  
There was a burst of static, and then, thank goodness, a friendly voice.  
“BTS, this is the UNSC Infinity,” the voice said. “We are set to approach your location.”  
“Don’t!” the tiger hurriedly yelled. “You’re going to be sucked into the planet if you come too close! There’s a gravity well-”  
He heard voices in the background. They sounded alarmed.  
“Get yourselves out of here!” the tiger ordered urgently. “It’s really not worth it.”  
He didn’t get an immediate reply; the guy on the line was barking orders at his flight crew. “You may have been a moment too late,” the voice said gravely.  
“Back out!” BTS hissed. “Everything you’ve got! You don’t want to come down here! Weird shit’s happening! If that well sucks you in, you’ll crash.”  
He didn’t get a reply; the ship wasn’t listening anymore. The crew was pouring everything they could into getting her out of the gravity well. The voice, which BTS had now identified as the same guys who was sending the COMs, the captain, swore at somebody.  
_I don’t know if it’ll be enough!_  
“We’re immobile,” the voice said to him after a few painstaking moments. “We have just enough power to stay on the event horizon of this thing, but we can’t do it forever. Eventually, we’ll be pulled in.”  
“We can find the source of the gravity well and shut it down,” BTS promised. “Just hang in there. I will keep this link open, so whenever you want to talk to me just give the COMs a hollar.”  
“We will do so,” the voice promised. “Good luck.”  
BTS looked back at the Chief. “We’ve got our destination now.” he reached into his mouth and fished out Cortana’s chip. “Thanks for cooperating with me.”  
“Whatever,” the AI muttered in a suspiciously-distorted voice. BTS grimaced and handed the chip back to the Chief.  
“They’re stuck just beyond the edge of the event horizon,” he reported. “We need to disable the well in order to free them. If we wait too long, they’ll be sucked in.”  
“And do we know where the well is?” the Chief asked.  
BTS winced. “No...but it should have a particular energy signature I should be able to read and identify. Gravitational generation spits out a relatively weak signal, but seeing the well is so massive it should be detectable from a fair distance.”  
“Those were a lot of very unspecific words,” Cortana observed.  
BTS flattened his ears. “Look, we’ve got no other choice. If Infinity tries to enter the planet, she’ll probably crash. Plus, you think the Didact isn’t gonna notice a giant human ship buzzing around his place? I don’t know what he’d do about it, but I don’t wanna find out.”  
“I know, I know,” Cortana sounded stressed. “It just seems like such a long shot just for all that work to not make a difference. Are we even going to be able to disable such a large machine on our own?”  
“We’ll have to answer that question when we get the opportunity to,” BTS vowed. “Otherwise, we’re stuck here. If Infinity can’t escape the gravity well, neither can I.”  
The thought had recently hit him, and it had formed ice in his stomach. Without his hyperdrive, he could be stuck here forever.  
Unless…  
He reached out to Infinity’s COMs. “UNSC Infinity, this is BTS. Is it possible that you could get contact with High Charity?”  
The connection was a little fuzzy, but functional. “BTS, this is Captain Del Rio. We do not have direct communications set up with High Charity, but we can attempt to contact the station on your behalf. No promises, though. Your friends have been very elusive these past few years.”  
So Blue hadn’t come along with the ship. Nor did she know that BTS had been found. Unless...he stilled for a moment, fear twitching through him. High Charity had survived. But that didn’t mean Blue had too.  
“Anything you can do to let them know we’re here,” the tiger said, disguising his thoughts. “Thank you very much, Captain.”  
He looked back at the Chief. “If they can contact Blue, she’ll be able to jump Aethon here and get us out.” His voice was cheery, but it was false.  
“Let’s not wait around in the meantime,” the Chief replied.  
The tiger nodded dutifully. “Give me a few minutes...I need time to be able to fully search out the area for signatures.”  
He walked a few paces away from the Spartan and sat down, putting his nose to the wind.  
_She wouldn’t be dead. She’s too strong. That’s just not possible!_  
And so he walked. Back, and forth. And back. And forth. And around. And down the hill. And up the hill. And around the hill. He paced anxiously in larger and larger circles, eyes near shut and mind almost completely devoted to trying to seek out the gravity well. The Chief patiently waited in the same spot, mostly ignoring the tiger. His job was to keep anything from interrupting this important business.  
The tiger froze in place, ears pricking up. He stuck his nose into the wind drifting by, and inhaled deeply.  
“I have something…” he said. “High energy concentration, and…” he tuned his senses into the gravitational fields around them. “It seems to correlate with an occurrence in the gravitational field. Much like that of a planet, but smaller and sporting high energy production.” He turned, realizing the Chief was definitely out of earshot. “Balls. I’m going to have to repeat all that.”  
He trotted back to the Spartan, who was observing the land over the cliff they stood near. “Hey, Chief,” he called, “I got something.”  
The Spartan turned. “Where is it?”  
“That way,” the tiger pointed south. “Not too far, actually. I’ll be able to get us there in probably under thirty minutes, if we don’t run into trouble.”  
“How sure are you that this is going to turn out to be what we’re actually looking for?” Cortana asked.  
BTS flattened his ears. “Hey, I’m doing the best I can. Energy signatures match for something of the type.”  
“I…” Cortana stuttered for a moment. “I don’t doubt you. I’m sorry, I’m just...stressed.”  
BTS’s red gaze softened and he felt a little sorry. “I...don’t let me upset you,” he grumbled awkwardly. “I can’t possibly understand what you’re going through.” He dipped a foreleg with a faint sigh. “Let’s go.”  
The Chief climbed onto his back and he trotted away, aiming his head south and a little bit west. There was a breeze blowing, bringing with it the scent of grasses and dust.  
The tiger shut his eyes. His mind was still reeling with the idea that Blue could be dead. But he had to focus. The real, living people on his back needed his help. If he let himself get distracted by his thoughts...well, he didn’t want to think about the consequences. That wasn’t something he was good at.  
He broke into a run, powerful hindlegs pushing his body off the ground as his wings unfolded from their compartment between his shoulder blades. The engines fired up, and he felt the lift gather beneath him, pulling him away from the ground. His energy shields lifted off his armor and formed a bubble around him, a windshield for the Chief.  
“The entire planet is active,” Cortana spoke up as they flew, loudly to be heard over the wind. BTS quickly added a muffling effect to the windshield around them, so she didn’t have to yell.  
“It’s almost as if it’s alive,” he agreed. “I can sense all the energy.”  
“There’s a lot of it being piped in this direction,” the AI observed. “If we aren’t heading towards the gravity well - which I think we are - we’re definitely heading towards something important.”  
“Help me keep an eye out for anything that might be anti-air,” the tiger told her. “I’m guessing the well’s gonna be protected.”  
“The Forerunners would have been stupid to not,” Cortana agreed.  
They fell silent again, leaving each to their own worried thoughts and occupations.  
BTS flexed a paw, unsheathing and resheathing his claws. _What if I had just jumped the Didact? Could I have killed him? Would none of this have happened? Or...would he have killed me?_  
The thought was sobering. While he was quite aware of how indestructible he was, he was even more aware of his true mortality. He, just like anyone else, could die. Though his death would require nothing short of utter destruction and probably at least one large explosion.  
“I’m getting some readings that suggest the existence of some type of heavy anti-air weapons ahead,” he spoke up. “Like, really heavy presence of some nasty ionized particles. I’m putting us under supercloak, but let me know if anything starts to seem like it knows we’re here. Nothing should, but ya’know...just in case.”  
“That sure makes me feel better,” Cortana muttered. The air around them shimmered as the tiger pushed his supercloak over their bubble shield.  
The tiger flew lower, slowing down to give the Chief a better view of their surroundings. It was rough canyonland, containing many tributaries and streams cutting through swaths of tan rock. A deep canyon cut through the center of the area, mist hiding the bottom. Along the run of the canyon sat a massive, round structure with three, swooping arms and a glowing center, reminding BTS of an angry, orange eye. Quite clearly, it was a very large and very dangerous anti-air cannon.  
He came to a stop in midair, eyes widening. “Oh. That’s a little bigger than I thought they would be.”  
“It doesn’t seem to notice we’re here,” Cortana offered.  
BTS flicked his ears. “Reassuring. But if these things are this big now, imagine how big this gravity well is going to be…”  
“Probably pretty big,” Cortana agreed.  
“I’m not going to be able to sustain supercloak and output enough energy to kill something as large and well-built as this well may be,” the tiger warned. “We’re going to need to disable these cannons somehow, or they’ll toast me as soon as I become visible again.”  
“They must have a central control point,” Cortana offered the idea.  
“I’m going low to ground,” BTS told them. “Y’all can help me look for a command-post-seeming building.”  
He dipped in altitude, coming alongside the dusty canyon. The terrain around them was a rocky, desert sprawl of spires, slot canyons, and boulders. Deserted, but once anything knew they were here, it wouldn’t remain that way.  
He narrowed his eyes, scanning his surroundings as they flew. Thin lines painted themselves across his vision as he noted the various pathways through the rocks. Large vehicles would be highly restricted on the ground, many smaller vehicles too, but there were plenty of places for people on foot to sneak around.  
“There’s another cannon,” he observed, rounding a corner further down the canyon. “They like their canyon cannons...heh. Canyon cannons.” he snorted, grinning at his own joke. “That’s funny.”  
Nobody else laughed at his joke.  
“There’s a tall structure coming out of the canyonlands ahead,” the Chief spoke up. BTS perked up his ears and started paying attention again.  
“Oh? Oh, I see it,” he said. “Good spot.”  
“Let’s check it out,” Cortana agreed.  
The tiger flew closer to the structure, observing as the terrain became even more rocky and unforgiving.  
“The structure spreads out below, between those two spires,” he observed. “Lots of good places for snipers along these canyon walls, though. We’d better watch out for any sneaky Prometheans.”  
There were actually a few tall structures, now that they were closer. They were bunched together amongst the rocks, connected by a series of platforms and ramps, so it looked like one building from farther away.  
“Got a door?” Cortana asked.  
“Down there, in the rock face,” BTS pointed with a paw. “But it looks like there’s a few Prometheans hanging around.”  
“They may have guessed we were coming here,” Cortana reasoned.  
“You think they know about Infinity, then?” the tiger asked.  
“The Didact could manipulate our transmissions,” the AI replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he could listen to them too.”  
BTS landed on top of a narrow, rib-like platform overhanging the walkway to the door, casually squishing a Crawler as he did. The Chief jumped off his back, readying his weapon.  
“Tally-ho,” the tiger chuckled, and jumped from the platform.  
~


	15. 3.14: The Librarian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Forerunners really like their doors, don't they?

3.14: The Librarian

Once all the Prometheans were dead, the door in front of the Chief opened. He and the tiger bounded through and the door shut behind them.  
“The lightrifle uses hardlight as a projectile,” Cortana noted aloud. “Unlike some of these other weapons, which use ionized particles. It’s quite interesting.”  
The door in front of them opened, revealing a dim, trapezoidal hallway that led to another door.  
BTS flicked his ears. “Why so many doors?”  
Said door opened into a larger room with three more doors. The tiger was about to complain about how there were too many doors when the center one opened, revealing a lone Sentinel. The robot regarded them for a moment before drifting off to the left, fiddling with some hidden controls. The door opened, revealing another door that also opened.  
BTS threw his paws in the air angrily. “Seriously! What’s with all these doors?”  
The left passage led to an elevator platform. “I believe it wants us to go that way,” Cortana reasoned. The Sentinel was hovering above the doorway patiently.  
“Well, I’ve never met a Sentinel that didn’t try to help me before,”the tiger agreed. “Well, I’ve never met a Sentinel before, in general. At least, not like this.”  
“They tend to be friendly,” Cortana reassured him. “Come on, let’s go.”  
They entered the lift, the door closing behind them. The Sentinel stayed behind.  
“I hope that doesn’t mean this is a trap,” BTS muttered darkly, glancing back to where the Sentinel had been.  
The lift started downwards; the bottom was glass and the tiger couldn’t help but stare into the slightly-creepy darkness below. How far down did it go?  
The lift halted before he had too much time to ponder that question, dumping them out into another empty hallway. BTS followed the Chief, holding back another annoyed remark as they came upon yet another door. Long story short, this facility really liked its doors.  
Another Sentinel floated by overhead, ignoring them. It opened one of the doors and drifted off.  
“These guys are just too damn friendly. They’re giving me the creeps,” BTS grumbled. “You can’t expect me to get attacked by killer robots and then be cool with the non-killer ones ten seconds later.”  
He remembered Guilty Spark, that quirky Monitor, opening doors and interacting with facilities, but the little Monitor could talk. It just made him seem so much more...trustable. Even though he was lowkey bonkers.  
Another door was opened for them, and the tiger squinted at the sudden burst of blue and orange light. A long platform, lined by cylindrical structures, led them to a glowing console. Or rather, the console was projecting glowing holograms above it, bathing itself in their light.  
The Chief put Cortana’s chip into the console, and she popped up above it.  
“The particle cannon network must use these arrays for targeting and guidance,” she observed. “It's an automated system so it won't technically allow me to redirect the cannons to fire on one another...technically.”  
She poked around a bit, and the platform shook faintly as a few booms echoed overhead.  
BTS clapped his paws sarcastically. “Yaaaay…”  
Cortana suddenly yelped and vanished.  
“Cortana!” the Chief said urgently, stepping towards the console. The hologram of the AI was gone, and didn’t come back. “Cortana!”  
“Where’d she go?” the tiger questioned, sniffing the console.  
“Something took her,” the Chief sounded grim.  
“Let me in there,” the tiger reached a paw up to the console. “I’ll find her.”  
A hardlight bridge suddenly appeared off of the path behind them, branching into a small side hallway. The Chief moved towards it.  
“This way,” he said, gesturing for the tiger to follow.  
“But I can find her through the console!” BTS insisted. “What, you’re just gonna go wandering off into the unknown? This place is trappy enough already!”  
The Chief didn’t look like he wanted to argue. “I’m going this way,” he said firmly, and marched right off.  
BTS rumbled unhappily, low in his throat. “Seriously dude, you’re probably walking right into a trap of most obvious proportions.”  
“I’ll be fine,” the Chief called without turning around, stepping onto the bridge.  
He wasn’t going to stay behind and listen to BTS, no matter how hard the tiger tried to convince him to stay. That was apparent.  
 _I mean...he is the Chief, he’ll be fine...Argh...if he goes off alone and gets himself killed, I’ll never forgive myself. Because whatever is going to kill him I could probably prevent._  
The tiger ground his teeth together, kneading the platform below his paws angrily. Damnit, why didn’t people just listen to him? What magical commanding juice was he lacking? He watched the Spartan vanish into the hallway.  
“Oh, screw this shit,” he grumbled, rolling his red eyes.  
He leapt off the platform, extending his wings and flying over to the hardlight bridge. The Spartan glanced back at him as he landed and sullenly walked into the hallway. Neither one of them spoke.  
BTS followed the Chief, nursing his injured pride. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to following orders, following orders was what he excelled at...just, the orders he usually followed were more sensible than this. Or, at least, he thought they were more sensible. It was his idea, after all. His ideas were always sensible.  
 _If we get killed I swear I will never forgive anyone in this entire universe for following stupid plot cliches about walking into obvious traps._  
A door opened; a Sentinel was hovering beyond it, watching them. The Chief seemed encouraged by this, but it made BTS all the more nervous.  
“I really do not like this…” he muttered. The Chief, of course, ignored him.  
There were more Sentinels in front of (take a guess) another door, this time a big door. A very big door. Tall enough for BTS to walk through it on two feet, possibly. Thankfully, no trolls or ogres or anything were hiding behind it.  
Instead, there was a vertical beam of white light, with a flickering image of Cortana within it.  
And of course, the Chief stepped right into it. And floated in place like a limp doll.  
“Aw, come on!” BTS yelled, throwing a paw in the arm. “That could’ve been some spooky death ray, and you just walk into it?”   
The Chief, of course, didn’t reply.  
The tiger pawed anxiously at the air nearest to the beam, worried that the Spartan had actually been killed or something. As far as he could tell, he was just...floating there, unaware. Which was very similar to being dead. But maybe not dead. His vitals seemed fine, at least through the limited understanding BTS had of them thanks to infrared imaging. But that could also be some kind of fancy Forerunner trick.  
He really didn’t have many choices otherwise, though. He could sit here and wait for something to happen, for who knows how long. He could leave. Or, he could touch the beam and find out if it was a death ray or not.  
He ground his teeth together. _Well, here goes nothing._  
He reached his paw out and touched the beam, and immediately everything went white.  
He felt sunlight on his metallic hide, eagerly absorbed by the dark pigments. It was blinding, burning his eyes even though he usually had little sensitivity to bright light. Slowly, he became aware of the not-quite-reality of his surroundings.  
Thankfully, the Chief was here, squinting at something up in the sky. Everything had a strange, digital energy to it.  
“Who are you?” the Spartan said, speaking to someone else.  
“I am what remains of the Forerunner once known as the Librarian,” a voice responded. Whoever it was, she sounded like a grandma.  
BTS’s eyes adjusted well enough to focus in on the humanoid figure descending from the sky above them. She was a strange image to him, not quite real but also beyond just a hologram. Definitely Forerunner, though; she didn’t have a nose.  
“My memories were retained to assist humanity on their path to the Mantle. Though sadly, that plan is now at risk,” the Librarian said. Her eyes settled on BTS, and he met her gaze steadily. Her face didn’t betray any of her thoughts, but he knew she had no idea who he was.  
The blinding mist of light had dispersed well enough that the tiger could see they stood on the ledge of a tall tower, above a green landscape. Everything was blurred on the far edges.  
They were in some sort of digital vision. He had a “digital sight” of sorts, the ability to “see” within circuits and communications relays, interacting with others in the system and the system itself. But this was some sort of formalized digital universe, one where anything alive could reside, at least mentally and probably physically.  
“The Didact is leaving Requiem,” the Librarian told them. “Soon. You must not allow it.”  
“Leaving?” the Chief asked.  
“He seeks this - the Composer,” the Librarian explained. With a wave of her hand, she cast a hologram of some unknown device onto the wall of the tower. "A device which will allow him to finally contain the greatest enemy ever faced by the Forerunners.” She looked back at the Chief. “You.”  
The Spartan quickly turned his head to her, obviously a little shocked. Some explanation was in order.  
But that wouldn’t come quite yet; her interests had focused on BTS instead. “Though, I’m sure he was not expecting you, whatever you are.”  
BTS stiffened a bit. His made-up background story, about being an AI created by a species from Forerunner times was, well, made-up. Of course this lady wouldn’t know him, and she could easily say something that would be hard for him to explain away. But she apparently had nothing else to say about him, turning back to the Chief.  
“Mankind spread into the stars with an unexpected, desperate violence. Entire systems fell before the Didact's Warrior-Servants rose to halt the aggression," the Librarian spoke. "When the Didact finally exhausted the humans after a millennia, his sentence was severe. We had no way of knowing that the Forerunners were not your only enemy." her voice was grave. "Humanity hadn't been expanding. They were running."  
“They were running from the Flood,” BTS growled, lashing his tail. He didn’t state it as a question. He was confident it had to be the only answer.  
The Librarian looked slightly surprised at his confidence. “What do you know of the ancient humans?”  
He internally cursed himself for speaking up. He had thought it would solidify his fake identity if he divulged a bit of his ‘knowledge’, but now he had to justify it. “Not that much,” he replied with a shrug. “I only know what I’ve been told. I am just an AI, after all.”  
“We were no match for that parasite, weakened by our war with humanity,” the Librarian continued, with notable regret in her voice. “We had no choice on how to save the galaxy. The cost was ultimate. But the Didact refused to yield our Mantle of Responsibility, and thus made it even more burdensome.”  
“What’s the Composer got to do with this?” the Chief asked.  
“The Composer had been intended to bridge the organic and digital realms. It would have made us immortal,” the Librarian explained. "But its results soured. The stored personalities fragmented, and our attempts to return them to biological states created only abominations.”  
The Chief glanced over at BTS. “Sounds like they were trying to replicate the state of the one who created you. Or, at least, based on what Cortana’s told me about her.”  
“Oh, yeah,” the tiger immediately found himself caught grasping for some kind of excuse that would be in line with his fake identity. Aw, crap. He sat up a bit straighter and narrowed his eyes a bit. “Blue went into hibernation before all the bad stuff really started happening. But this Composer totally sounds like an attempt to replicate the Ascendance of her people.”  
The Librarian looked confused. “Ascendance? I have no knowledge of any process named as such, but you lead me to believe that you have had extensive contact with the Forerunners in the past.”  
BTS shrugged, internally cursing. “I guess we were around before you were?”  
“Perhaps,” the Librarian mused. “But we must not become distracted. The Composer was to be the Didact’s solution to the Flood, nonliving tissue immune to assimilation. And it also would be the tool of his revenge, now and before.”  
“The Prometheans... they're human,” the Chief spoke up, sounding shocked by his revelation.  
“They were only the beginning,” the Librarian said, visibly distraught. “He would have encrypted your entire race if we had not removed the Composer from his care and imprisoned him here.” she drifted closer to the Chief, voice becoming intense. "Reclaimer, when I indexed mankind for repopulation, I hid seeds from the Didact. Seeds which would lead to an eventuality. Your physical evolution. Your combat skin. Even your ancilla, Cortana. You are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning."  
“Planning for what?” the Spartan asked. He didn’t sound completely sold on this whole deal.  
Something rumbled across the sky, like digital thunder. The Librarian looked up, fearful.  
“He has found us,” she murmured.  
~


	16. 3.15: Attack on the Gravity Well Pt. 1

3.15: Attack on the Gravity Well P.1

“Even in death, her meddling continues,” the snarling voice of the Didact echoed over the landscape, pillars rising from the ground, Knights crouched on their tops. BTS growled, lowering his head.  
“What can he and can’t he do in here?” he asked urgently.  
“Too much!” the Librarian said hurriedly. “Reclaimer! The genesong I placed within you contains many gifts, including an immunity to the Composer. But it must be unlocked!”  
“How?” the Chief asked.  
“Relinquish your contact essence!” the Didact’s voice demanded, pillars towering around them.  
“Too many big words all at once!” BTS yelled back.  
“Your evolutionary journey must be accelerated,” the Librarian told the Spartan.  
“Can I defeat the Didact without it?” he asked.  
She shook her head decisively. “No.”  
“Then do it,” the Chief replied readily.  
“Prepare,” she ordered.  
BTS’s eyes snapped open; his body was being replaced upon the ground by the beam of light. Next to him, the Chief was shaking around and glowing with strange light.  
“Uh…” the tiger sidestepped, a little freaked out. The Spartan adopted the “superhero landing” pose, and the glowing stopped.  
Cortana appeared to their left, on a pedestal. “Up here!”  
“I have no idea what just happened!” BTS yelled, a little shaky. Mechanical growling filled the room, and numerous Crawlers stalked into view.  
The tiger crouched. “You get the lady, I got them!”  
The Chief nodded and ran off to get Cortana, leaving the tiger to shred the Crawlers into machine scrap.  
“Have a dog!” he yelled, throwing one of the still-alive Crawlers at a Knight that had decided to show his ugly face. The Crawler did not survive the encounter, though the Knight did.  
A burst of weapons fire drove the Knight back, the Chief returning with Cortana secured.  
“Elevator, back of the room,” he said to the tiger, and kept going.  
BTS shrugged. “Sure...are we not going to talk about what just happened, though?”  
The Knight screeched unhappily as it was disintegrated into particles by the Chief. BTS sniffed at them again, now all the wiser.  
“That explains their strange energy signatures,” he mused. “I’m smelling the distorted scent of a soul, for lack of better ways to explain it.”  
“That’s pleasant,” Cortana muttered.  
They entered the elevator chamber, the door shutting behind them. The platform began to descend.  
“It's a long story, but I know what the Didact's after,” the Chief was speaking to Cortana. Yet another semi-private conversation the tiger was excluded from.  
The elevator stopped, opening into a hallway. BTS sensed the swirling energy of a portal to his right. As he stepped into the hall, the blueish vortex appeared in its stand.  
“Next stop, gravity well,” he rumbled, and charged through.  
The sunlight on the other side was bright and hot, but the tiger didn’t even have a second to squint before the shadow of a Phantom cut it out. He hissed and ducked into the shadows of the canyon wall.  
“Covenant!” he growled. “They know what we’re here for.”  
“Multiple Wraiths, Phantoms, and ground troops,” Cortana reported, voice distorting a little. “There’s no way we’ll be able to get through them all on foot!”  
“I can give y’all a lift,” the tiger offered. “If we can get up onto the canyon wall, the only things that’ll be able to follow us will be the Phantoms.”  
“How closer are we to the gravity well?” the AI asked him.  
“Very,” he replied.   
“Let’s go,” she said.  
He dipped a leg, and the Chief jumped onto his back. The screech of an Unggoy caught his attention; a group of the little buggers had been patrolling nearby, and had noticed them. He roared angrily and spat a tongue of fire from his mouth; the unshielded creatures were instantly burnt to crisps.  
“Let’s not get too close to those Phantoms,” Cortana suggested. The Chief was watching the sky carefully.  
BTS bent his legs and leapt into the air, wings unfolding. His engines engaged and he shot upwards, angling out over the tops of the canyon walls, donning his supercloak. Yellowish light hit his eyes, and he saw the massive structure of the gravity well beyond.  
“Uh, that’s a lot bigger than I expected it to be,” he commented.  
“We’re going to need more firepower,” the Chief observed.  
“I have an idea,” Cortana’s voice slurred. “Ack, sorry.”  
“Let’s hear it,” the Chief said.  
“We’re going to need to hijack one of these Covenant vehicles,” she suggested. “Use their weapons against the well. Hopefully, they’ll be strong enough.”  
“I doubt even the Phantom’s guns will do that much damage,” BTS disagreed. “I mean, look at the size of that thing!”  
“All we need is enough energy to destabilize the core,” the AI argued. “We hit it enough, the well goes down.”  
“What if we just, I don’t know, fly the Phantom into it?” BTS suggested, trying to avoid a shouting match with her. “Shoving a large, high-moving, physical object into the glowy bits...seems like a good idea to me.”  
She was silent. Then, “That could work…”  
“I say we try it,” he pushed. “It’ll be faster than shooting it until it goes down. Not to mention we’ll be under attack from these other guys the whole time.”  
“It’s risky,” Cortana seemed unsure. “Anyone still inside the ship when it impacts the core will surely be killed.”  
“It’s worth a shot,” the Chief put in his two cents. “The tiger can fly us out before impact.”  
“Great!” BTS rumbled happily. “I’ll get us a Phantom. There’s plenty around here!”  
He dipped a wing and curved away to his left, checking out the scene below him. A couple of the Phantoms had dropped their compliments; a couple had not.”  
“Let’s get one of these empty ones,” he suggested. “Just a pilot and a few crew to take out.”  
He flew up to the back of the hovering Phantom; it was helping the ground troops below search for their targets. Unsuspecting of aerial attack, and unable to detect the tiger under supercloak, all eyes were on the ground.  
BTS flew around to the side and through one of the bay doors. The gunners at the turrets didn’t even bat an eyelash.  
He dropped his supercloak. “Bye!”   
He kicked the gunner off the edge of the ship, the Unggoy screeching in panic as he fell. The Chief shot the other one right off the opposing edge, methane gas spraying from his punctured tank. The pilot, in the front of the Phantom, cursed mightily.  
“Surprise, surprise,” BTS growled, ripping a hole through the cabin door with two powerful strokes of his claws. The pilot was ready for him; a charged blast from a plasma pistol struck him on the forehead, making him see stars for a moment.  
Or rather, the co-pilot had been ready for him. There were two Sangheili in the cabin, one driving the dropship and the other currently defending him.  
The tiger snarled angrily, forcing his body further through the hole in the door. Another shot hit him square in the nose, and he yelped, recoiling. Anger flared in his stomach and he lunged forwards, bowling the nearest Sangheili over with a swipe of his paw. The door shrieked as his hips scraped through the hole, panels bending.  
He battered the Sangheili with his paws, shoving him into the pilot. The two fell in a tangle, energy shields flaring. He pounced on them, closing his teeth around somebody’s neck, biting down until he tasted blood and felt bone snap. The second Sangheili, the pilot, was pinned under the body of the first; the tiger met his smoldering eyes.  
“Artificial abomination!” the pilot hissed, eyes filled with so much hate.  
“You’ve picked the wrong side of history, bud,” the tiger rumbled, dropping the broken neck of the other Sangheili from his jaws. He lunged, teeth closing around the pilot’s throat. His shields shuddered under the force, draining away beneath each sharp fang. The tiger jerked his head to the side, thrashing the pilot back and forth. His spine snapped with an audible crack. The tiger spat the broken body from his jaws and quickly moved to put a paw on the controls, shoving his mind into the system. “I have control of the Phantom!” he yelled.  
“About time!” Cortana’s distorted voice replied. “We’re taking heavy fire out here!”  
BTS backed out of the cabin, a shimmering blue line of energy extending from him to the control console. “Mount up; I’ll remotely drive this thing into the core.”  
The Chief jumped onto his back. The fuselage of the Phantom shuddered as plasma fire splattered against it, the other ships trying to take it down.  
BTS jumped out the side of their Phantom, the blue thread trailing after him. The ship turned, flying away from them. The other Phantoms chased after it, mostly ignoring the flying tiger and his passenger.  
“They clearly know what we’re here about,” Cortana observed. “This better work!”  
“We have more Phantoms if it doesn’t,” BTS rumbled.  
The dropship’s engines fired up to full, catapulting it towards the shimmering orb within the well’s structure. Smoke trailed from its fuselage, more than one place on its hull burnt and scarred.  
“Fingers crossed!” BTS yelled, eyes narrowed into the glow of the gravity well. The Phantom slammed into it, plunging into the core and exploding into brilliant flame. The core’s light fractured around the explosion, a strange, visual scene as pieces of light seemed to splinter from the whole.   
“It wasn’t enough,” the Chief observed. Indeed, the core was still intact, though flickering and wavering like a candle flame.  
“We have more Phantoms,” BTS repeated.  
“They’re backing off,” Cortana observed. “They don’t want to be your next projectile.”  
“They can’t run from what they can’t see,” the tiger chuckled, donning his supercloak.   
He landed in the bay of another Phantom, pausing to give the Unggoy at the turret a cordial kick out the door. While the Chief dispatched the rest of the compartment, the tiger ripped the cabin door open in practiced fashion, this time making sure the hole was wide enough for his burly body.  
“Bye,” he said, tossing an armed grenade into the cabin. The swearing was cut off by the explosion, and the breathing was cut off by twins sets of razor-sharp claws and crushing teeth.  
He spat Sangheili trachea from his mouth, pushing the dead bodies into the corner and putting his paw on the console. “I got this one. Let’s go.”  
He backed out of the cabin, waiting for the Chief to return to him before walking off the side of the ship. The ghostly blue connecting followed him as he exited, the ship drifting lazily away to a point where it could get a good angle on the gravity well.  
“I’ll give it a little extra,” he said. The Phantom’s turrets started firing, some of them hitting the damaged energy core. “Until they’ve almost kicked it from the sky, that is.”  
“Well, looks like one of them thinks we’re the easier target,” Cortana said hurriedly. “Look out!”  
BTS dipped, dodging the plasma fire and the following hull of the ship, determined to see how well ramming him would work. He snarled at it as it passed, but focused on keeping his connection to the other Phantom alive.  
“Strike two!” he called, accelerating the ship. It crashed into the core, exploding like the first one had. The core shook, shooting off more of those weird light fragments.  
“The damage these ships are doing is relatively minimal,” Cortana observed. “The outer layers of the core are absorbing all the impact.”  
“We need a bigger ship,” BTS growled, frustrated.  
“If we continue to attract this much attention, one will come,” the Chief said.  
“Well, the Prometheans finally showed up, so you’ve got a point there,” BTS observed, flying over a gang of Crawlers. “They can’t do jack shit while we’re up here, though.”  
“Hey, remember that bigger ship you mentioned us needing?” Cortana said. “I think I see a contender.”  
~


	17. 3.16: Attack on the Gravity Well Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally make it to Infinity...and my least favorite person, Captain Del Rio.

3.16: Attack on the Gravity Well P.2

“Huh?” BTS spun around, listening to Cortana. Approaching over the canyonlands, accompanied by two more Phantoms, was a ship nearly three times their size, a hulking, smooth thing that reminded the tiger of a shiny beetle.  
“It’s a Lich,” Cortana observed. “Heavy ground support ship.”  
“That looks nice,” he chuckled. “That looks very nice.”  
“Any ideas on how to board it?” the Chief asked.  
BTS dodged more plasma fire, donning his supercloak. “I spy with my red eye two lift doors...and they’re open. Teeming with Covenant, but open.”  
“We can take them,” the Chief replied, hefting his weapon. “Get us in there and make sure we’re the only things left alive.”  
“Rodger dodger!” BTS exclaimed, flexing his paws in excitement. He now had an order - a simple one.   
Destroy.  
He barreled through the bay door of the ship, swiping his claws through the squishy, unshielded bodies of two Unggoy. The Chief jumped off his back, weapons firing, mowing down a gang of Kig-Yar before they had even a second to react. They squawked and shrieked, going down in a tangle of limbs. With the Chief gone, the tiger could deploy his energy turret, and he did promptly.  
He heard the familiar sound of a very pissed-off Sangheili; the individual had come from the second level of the ship, rounding the ramp to fire at him. The tiger backpedaled into cover, kicking another Kig-Yar out the side of the ship.  
“The pilot is turning around!” Cortana called. “They’re going to try and get away from here so we can’t use their ship as a projectile.”  
“They’re just giving us more running room!” BTS replied. He threw an Unggoy against the wall, cracking his skull. “We’re getting this core down, whether they like it or not!”  
The Sangheili was following him; he growled and shot a few bolts of energy in his direction. The bugger ducked, avoiding the bolts, but accidentally took his eyes off the tiger.  
BTS slammed into him, clamping his jaws around his throat. He shook his head, thrashing the Sangheili before throwing him into a wall. Dazed, the Sangheili didn’t fight back as BTS jumped over him and ran up the ramp leading to the rest of the ship.  
There were still quite a lot of people up here; the Chief could clear out the stragglers down below in about the same time BTS could take these guys on, he was certain.  
He slammed into a Kig-Yar, paw wrapping around his neck and throwing him into his fellows. He blasted them with fire, the flames pouring from the flamethrower in his mouth and scorching them into crispy Kig-Yar nuggets. An Unggoy saw him and ran away shrieking, throwing his weapon away behind him.  
 _Hah. Where does he think he has to go?_  
Out, apparently. The Unggoy chose suicide over death by angry metal tiger.  
 _Huh. Fair enough._  
He reared up, plasma shots flashing against his shields. The Lich’s ceilings were too low for him to stand up fully, but he still had enough height to swing his paws into the nearest Sangheili’s head, slamming him against the wall. The tiger grabbed the dazed individual and bodily threw him out the side of the ship.  
“Aaaaargh! Demon beast!”   
An Unggoy was now running towards him with two grenades activated and stuck to his hands. BTS spun, lashing out with his tail. It cracked like a whip across the Unggoy’s face, and he was thrown out of the ship, exploding in midair like a blue-bloody firework.  
“Everything alright up here?” Cortana called.  
The Chief had arrived, but not from the ramp, the lower floor cleared out much faster than BTS had predicted.  
“I’m fine,” he replied. “Suicide Grunt, but I threw him off the side of the ship.”  
“Console’s clear,” the Chief said. “Let’s finish this.”  
“Happily,” BTS agreed, walking up to the console and putting a paw to it. The Lich’s engines hummed, and it turned around, facing the gravity well once again.  
“If this doesn’t work, I’m going to fly into that damn thing myself,” the tiger muttered as the Chief jumped onto his back. The two of them exited the ship, the tiger flying around to the back of it, partially sheltering himself behind the hull of the vessel.  
The ship’s engines fired, and it accelerated towards the gravity core; they had moved quite a distance away from it during the fighting.  
“The Phantoms are forming up!” Cortana yelled. “They’re going to try and take us down!”  
“Their funeral!” BTS replied, kicking the ship’s engines up to full speed.  
The Lich, despite its bulky shape and size, accelerated at dizzying speed, so fast BTS lagged behind it momentarily. He snarled, catching up to the ship. He wanted to remain sheltered behind the thing; they were about to enter Phantom-fire hell.  
The ship shook, impacted from numerous angles. It shook off the blows like they were flies, and barreled through the line of Phantoms, brushing against one that got too close.  
“Argh!” the tiger snarled. The scrape had put the ship slightly off course; his vision doubled a little as he poured his concentration into wrenching the thing back onto its path.  
“Braking!” he yelled, engines vectoring downwards. His hindquarters swung down, flaps on his wings lifting to slow his motion. The Chief grabbed his shoulders, almost slipping off.  
“Thanks for the warning,” he muttered sarcastically.  
BTS wasn’t paying attention, “Oh shit…” they were much closer to the core than he had wanted to be.  
The Lich crashed into the core, punching through the shattered outer layers and eclipsing the bright light of the interior. It exploded, shockwave emanating from it and knocking BTS head over heels, vision blurring. He lost control of his flight, flipping over and over. His energy shields were shredded right from him by the blast. He felt the Chief slip from his back.  
 _Oh fu-_ he slammed his engines into full reverse and deployed most of his flaps, bringing his tumble to a head-spinning halt. Just in time to see the Spartan hit the ground right next to a very bloodthirsty-looking contingent of Covenant. They looked up and started running at him, screeching and waving their weapons.  
“Get away from him!” he roared, diving. The Chief was struggling to his feet; he’d fallen, like, really far. And falling while spinning really never led to safe landings. The guy was looking pretty stunned, for a Spartan. Which equated to still being able to shoot down most things that came near him, just with a slightly drunken list.   
The drunken list was fine - the fact that the fall had taken down his shields was not. And there wasn’t a breath of cover to be spoken of around here. BTS’ shields were still down too.  
BTS hit the ground (on top of a pair of Kig-Yar) just in time to see a blob of plasma narrowly miss the Spartan. Not good. Very much not good.  
Rage filled his chest, and he roared, leaping over the Chief’s head. He landed in front of him, rearing up onto his hind legs. He roared again, unsheathing his claws, towering ferociously over the approaching Covenant. An Unggoy took one look at his six-inch fangs and fled with a shriek.  
“Let’s dance, cowards!” he snarled. “Come on!” His turret whirred and extended over his shoulder, firing at the foes. A plasma shot gazed across his side, where ribs would be if he had them, burning a gouge into his unshielded armor. Another one passed across his forearm, burning away the armored plating and uncovering a sliver of his internal skeleton.  
“BTS!” Cortana was talking. “We need to get out of here!”  
The tiger almost didn’t hear her through the rage pumping in his ears. Her voice poked at the back of his mind, and he was brought slightly back to earth.  
The Chief was behind him, holding off the rear. But they were practically back-to-back, Covenant trying to surround them. The Chief’s shields were back up, but he was standing with most of his weight on one leg.  
“What?” BTS snapped back to reality. “You’ve been hit? Why’d you do that?”  
“Infinity has the medical support we’re going to need,” Cortana snapped, not willing to deal with his sarcasm. “Get us up there.”  
“Can you ride, or do I need to carry you?” the tiger asked, lobbing another barrage of energy at an encroaching Sangheili. He spotted an Unggoy with a Needler and shot him down before he could fire more than a few shots; one projectile managed to lock onto the tiger and detonated against his shin, denting his armor a little.  
“I can ride,” the Chief said, sounding slightly insulted. “It’s really not that bad.”  
“I trust ya,” the tiger replied, though sounding like he felt otherwise. He dropped onto all fours with a thump, hissing as plasma splattered against his flank. His shields were trying to recharge, but they were slowly becoming surrounded on all sides.  
The Chief somewhat-ungracefully climbed onto his back, and he extended his wings, blasting off from the ground hurriedly. The Covenant on the ground shrieked angrily, waving their weapons as the fleeing duo.  
“I can sense Infinity’s energy,” BTS told the Spartan. “I’ll get us there.”  
He narrowed his eyes, expanding his semi-charged shield around him and his passenger to keep off the wind. The ground fell away below them, quickly becoming hidden in the dust of the canyonlands.  
He reached his senses out to the ship far above them. “UNSC Infinity, this is BTS. We’ve taken down the gravity well and are coming to you. The Chief’s injured.”  
“I’m fine,” the Chief grumbled, irritated.  
There was a burst of static. “We’ve noticed,” the curt voice replied. “Infinity has returned to orbit. We can meet you in the middle.”  
“No!” the tiger yelled. “Do not come into this planet! Weird shit is going on down here, and you don’t want to be involved in it, promise me.”  
“I think we can calculate our risks properly,” the voice replied.   
“Don’t you dare leave orbit,” the tiger snarled. “You have no idea what you’re getting into.”  
“I am the captain of this ship,” the voice replied angrily. “I will not be ordered around about what to do with my ship.”  
“With all due respect, BTS is right,” Cortana broke in. “We have new contacts on this planet that are more dangerous than anything we’ve ever encountered before. Bringing Infinity down here will put her and everyone aboard at risk.”  
“Infinity is no plaything,” the voice sounded insulted. “We can handle a few new contacts.”  
“She’s also the UNSC’s greatest asset,” Cortana argued. “There’s no need to put her at risk. We’ll be at your position soon enough.”  
The voice was silent for a moment. Then, “As you wish. Make sure to signal your approach so we don’t mistake you for one of these new contacts.” the connection was abruptly cut off.  
“Wow, he’s friendly,” BTS muttered. “I sure do love getting subtly threatened.”  
“Well, you did try to order him around,” Cortana reasoned.  
The air up here was thin and cold; the internals in BTS’s engines began to rearrange, adjusting to perform in thin-atmosphere conditions. They began to glow blue from within as product from his fission reactors was squeezed into thrust.  
“That’s interesting,” Cortana commented, always the curious observer. “I wasn’t paying attention to your engines before, but it seems they have transformable function. And we only talked about them a little bit during our time adrift in space.”  
“The best way I can describe them is some weird, modified SCRAMjet,” the tiger replied. “Thanks to energetics, the internal parts can rearrange into an almost infinite number of designs. Though there are only a few that I find useful.”  
“Blue has thrusters on her back,” the AI was saying. “Do those do the same thing?”  
“They’re strictly energetic thrust,” BTS corrected. “I have a fusion reactor inside my body; she doesn’t. All she has to do is take energy and port it out behind her, real simple like.”  
“Fascinating,” Cortana said. “Though she flies plenty fast without those engines.”  
“She can fly over two-hundred miles per hour with those wings,” the tiger boasted.  
“Miles per hour?” Cortana sounded confused.   
“Oh, right,” BTS quickly corrected himself. “I forget you guys use kilometers. So that would be…”  
“Three-hundred and twenty-two kilometers per hour,” Cortana calculated. “How come you know about miles? You and your friends should’ve slept through that entire period of human history.”  
BTS was silently cursing himself for saying something that made very little sense with his imaginary personal history. “Well...being asleep for that long can be confusing. After waking up, we picked up random bits of data from that desolate place we’d been hibernating. Blue also does this weird thing where she still learns stuff while asleep...we had no idea what year it was when we woke up, so we just took what we knew and went out to try and find out what the hell was going on outside.”  
“Hmmm…” Cortana was thinking, and BTS didn’t like it. “Could you take us to the place you were hibernating?”  
“Blue could,” he replied. “I doubt she’d want to go back there, though. Too many bad memories, ya know?”  
“That’s understandable,” Cortana seemed reluctant to push further, now that the tiger had played the trigger warning card.   
He snorted, turning his head a little to check on the Chief. The Spartan was stalwartly holding on, leaning low over his shoulders to deal with the almost-vertical climb.  
“How you doing there, Chief?” the tiger asked.  
“I’m fine,” he replied stubbornly. “Stop worrying about me. I’m barely injured.”  
“No you aren’t,” Cortana scolded. “You’ve been shot. Twice.”  
“We’ve survived worse,” the Chief argued.  
“Worse is a subjective judgement,” Cortana reminded him.   
They passed through the shell of the planet, entering the long, dark corridor leading to space beyond. BTS gathered as much oxygen as he could fit into his shield bubble, and increased his speed as he felt the air resistance vanish from his wings.  
The Infinity was up ahead, maintaining position above the planet’s entrance. She had some of her external lights on, making her easy to see in the darkness of space.  
BTS reached out to the ship. “UNSC Infinity, this is BTS. We have exited the planet. I’m going to light up so y’all can see us.”  
“We know you’re there,” the curt voice replied. “Light up.”  
The tiger resisted the urge to growl and cut the connection off. He lifted his head, and his eyes started to glow brightly, twin points of red in the dark. Between the plates of his armored body, more red light began to glow, running down his sides like, well, running lights.  
“I’ll direct you to the hangar,” Cortana told him. “I can understand their signals.”  
Infinity flashed some of her lights at them, and Cortana directed him around the side of the ship, to wherever it was they would be accepted. The massive hull of the ship dwarfed them; if it hadn’t been for BTS’s experience with the larger Covenant ships, he would have been impressed. Maybe he still was, just a little. But with some grouchy doofus at her helm, he doubted Infinity was much more than a careening battering ram at times.  
He flew into the open airlock, shutting his lights off and dispelling his shields as the atmosphere returned to the room. Space vanished behind heavy doors, and once the airlock repressurized, the second set of doors opened.  
There were quite a few people outside; BTS guesses a whole lot of them were here for no good reason other than to see the Chief’s purported ghost.  
 _He’s alive, you morons. Thanks to me._  
Speaking of the Chief, he was getting off BTS’s back. He was definitely not a ghost. There were a lot of very, very shocked faces staring at them. They looked pretty stupid.  
BTS opened his mouth to call for the medics, but they were already there. And before he could even say a thing, the Chief was snatched up and hustled off. The crowd of onlookers followed cautiously after him, keeping a distance from the medics so as not to crowd them. In just a few heartbeats, the tiger was left very much alone by the airlock.  
He watched the last of the people round the hallway and vanish with his mouth half-open in shock. “You’re welcome?” he called doubtfully after them.  
No one came back around the hallway. The tiger sighed and plunked his rear onto the ground, putting one paw over his side where plasma had scorched his armor. There was a small hole right through the plating, about the size and shape of a potato. Just enough to see the exterior housing for his fusion reactor.  
“So much for a hero’s welcome,” he muttered.  
~


	18. 3.17: Anger Management Issues

3.17: Anger Management Issues

Eventually, someone came to collect the tiger, almost as an afterthought. He was curtly escorted into a small room and instructed to wait there until someone else came to get him. The people who had escorted him seemed to be a strange mix of aloof, annoyed, and afraid. Sure, he kind of understood. He was a weaponized, robotic tiger large enough to look eye-to-eye with a shorter human, red eyes that had no pupils staring out of a jet-black face lit with faint white stripes. He certainly couldn’t be upset if people were intimidated by him, seeing how he had decided upon his own appearance. But he had just saved their iconic Spartan. But yet they wouldn’t make eye contact with the tiger.  
He felt anxious. He wanted to know how the Chief was doing. The Spartan hadn’t seemed that bad off, but even one hit from plasma weaponry wasn’t to be trifled with. If it wasn’t for the fact that the weapons cauterized everything they touched, it was quite possible he would have bled out long before they could have gotten to Infinity.  
Plus, learning how the humans did their medicine these days wouldn’t be a bad thing. Blue back on home base could sure use that sort of information; he knew the Sangheili were super superstitious about medicine. For some dumb reason, they thought refusing medical aid was better than accepting it. As a result, their medical tech was sadly underpowered.  
He was pacing. Pacing like a tiger in a poorly-managed zoo, endlessly patrolling his little slice of wherever. He couldn’t help it; movement kept his mind from spinning in too many circles. Instead of spin the mind, spin the body.  
He could just leave his room, and try to find the Chief on his own. But...that was probably a bad idea. El Capitan de la Shipe, whoever he was, would probably get mad. And he already seemed like such a chummy guy, it would be soooo unfortunate to make him more angry.  
Hmph. He twitched his ears, irritated. The UNSC’s biggest spaceworthy asset was being piloted by the human version of the Grinch, as far as he was concerned.  
Eventually, that other someone came to collect him. He was laying on his back in a corner of the room, examining his claws, when the door opened. Surprised, he leapt to his paws so fast that the two guys in the doorway jumped back, clearly alarmed.  
“Uh, sorry,” BTS muttered, putting his ears back. “How’s the Chief?”  
“He’ll be meeting with you and the captain on the bridge,” one of the men told him, regaining his composure. “He’s wanting a situation report from you.”  
“Gladly,” the tiger replied. Anything to get out of his current, agonizingly boring, situation. “He’ll be happy to have avoided that planet after we explain what’s going on.”  
The pair of men looked ever so slightly disappointed.  
The tiger was escorted through the belly of the ship, a considerable distance, until they arrived at the bridge. By this point, BTS hadn’t a clue what part of the ship they were in; it was too damn big. He had fun checking the place out, though. From what he could sense, the ship was decked out with some of the most advanced and powerful technologies humanity had to offer. Impressive stuff! Blue would love to hear about it.  
The tiger was led through a pair of automatic doors, opening into a large room full of computer stations and various navigational equipment. Beyond the oodles of fancy technology was a view to the outside, the blackness of space and the peaceful twinkle of stars visible. Deceivingly peaceful, that was.  
One of the stations contained a large holotable with four people gathered around it. One of them, a woman, was clearly a Spartan, chilling with a definitely-loaded assault rifle. Under other circumstances, BTS would have been more curious, but he had eyes only for the Chief.  
He chirruped quietly, pushing past his escort. One of the men cursed under his breath; getting brushed by BTS was much akin to being brushed by a pony, not a cat. A metal pony that weighed over three thousand and a half pounds.  
“Chief!” he exclaimed, ears pricked up happily. “Glad to see you’re ok!” he realized he was purring his words a little; he self-consciously shut his jaws and turned his head to the side. “I mean, uh, I knew you were gonna be alright, you’re the Chief for crying out loud.” He put his ears back and tried to look unworried.  
Someone chuckled; Cortana was standing above the holotable, hand over her mouth. BTS looked at her, slightly annoyed.  
“Thanks for getting us up here, BTS,” she said, smiling. “We appreciate it.”  
BTS nodded, feeling happy to be acknowledged, but still slightly embarrassed by his sappy reunion. Damnit, he was a badass killing machine, not a puppy. But it was really nice to know the Chief was alright.  
He became aware that someone was staring at him, decidedly unamused. This someone was a middle-aged man with greying hair and badging on his uniform that designated him as the captain of the ship. So, this was the angry man from the coms, the human version of the Grinch Who Didn’t Want to Listen and Stay Away from the Planet of Killer Robots. BTS plopped his metal rear onto the floor next to the Chief, and stared back at the captain across the holotable, red eyes unreadable.  
The Chief looked down at him briefly. BTS looked sideways at him, just a small head turn; the Spartan nodded to him ever so slightly.  
“We were just beginning to discuss these new contacts you encountered on Requiem,” the captain said curtly, returning attention to himself. “We were hoping you could add to our knowledge.”  
“Of course,” BTS said. “What’ve you already talked about?”  
“Appearance. Abilities,” the captain said curtly. “What you have reportedly seen is convoluted beyond what is easy to accept.”  
“I can show you them,” BTS said, standing up. He pointed a paw at the holotable. “May I?”  
The captain exchanged looks with the fourth human, some other military dude, standing around the table, and then nodded. BTS stepped up to the table and touched his paw to the edge, next to where Cortana’s data chip was inserted.  
“Mind moving over a bit, Cortana?” he asked. “You can help me explain these guys.”  
The AI lady nodded and stepped to the side. BTS narrowed his eyes, bringing the images of the Prometheans into his mind. He concentrated on them, viewing them from all angles, and then gave the images to the holotable.  
Figures of the Prometheans popped up above the table, one of each of the kinds they had encountered. A hulking Knight; one of those obnoxious flying guys; and a crouched Crawler.   
“I’ve sized them so Cortana would be the Chief’s height,” he explained, not removing his paw from the table. “The big guys, the Knights, are kinda insect-like and weird, but they’re super fast and really tough. They use a bunch of different weapons, all based on ionized particles or light-mass projectiles. They also have a hardlight blade affixed to their arm, and that thing hurts like a bi - eh, you probably get the idea.”   
Cortana walked around the figure of the Knight, giving the rest of the people an idea of their scale. Big, hulking, and angry.  
“The flying ones act as aerial support,” the tiger continued, nodding to the floating construct. “They can also give upgrades to the ground troops. Hardlight shields, repairs. They’re fast and hard to hit.”  
“Thankfully, they’re not too tough,” Cortana added.  
“The Crawlers move in packs,” the tiger moved to the third figure. “They all shoot the same ammo, and they can crawl practically everywhere. They use numbers and agility to try and overwhelm their foes. They’re Promethean fodder, a dime a dozen. Easy to kill, though.”  
“They don’t seem to be that difficult of a foe to conquer, the way you describe them,” the captain said doubtfully.  
“Not that difficult for me,” BTS shoved a free finger at himself. “That’s your keyword.”  
The captain frowned, expression quite stormy.  
“Captain Del Rio,” the other human spoke up, his uniform designating him an executive officer. There was a name on his uniform - Thomas Lasky. “These contacts sound dangerous. They’re using technologies unknown to us, and far advanced beyond anything we’ve ever encountered before.”  
“Oh, have you told them about the Didact yet?” BTS asked, looking at the Chief. The Spartan shook his head.  
“The Didact?” Del Rio looked back at them.   
“He’s their leader,” BTS explained, pointing at the Prometheans. “He controls them.”  
“He’s an extremely dangerous Forerunner,” Cortana added. “He has a vendetta against humanity.”  
“Did you just say Forerunner?” Del Rio asked, sounding aghast. The Chief, Cortana, and BTS all nodded.  
“He was suspended in a Cryptum and was able to manipulate Infinity’s incoming transmissions to trick us into releasing him,” Cortana explained. “He’s very devious, and working with a Covenant remnant faction.”  
“Oh, and now the Covenant’s here?” Del Rio sounded extremely frustrated. “Damn it…”  
“Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant,” BTS clarified. “We almost met the guy. Shame...I probably could’ve killed him in about five seconds.” Cortana gave him a sharp look, telling him that the last part of his sentence was most likely inappropriate.  
“We have no way of giving a threat assessment to FLEETCOM without actually assessing the threat,” Del Rio declared. “I can’t just file a report talking about rumors of a bunch of Forerunner robots and a Forerunner himself!”  
“Uh, they aren’t rumors,” BTS said. “They’re real.” Del Rio glared at him; he chose that moment to realize that the captain probably was used to being addressed with respect, and quickly added a “Sir” to the end of his sentence.  
“With the gravity well down, Infinity will be able to enter the planet safely,” Del Rio continued. “I want to get eyes on the surface and see what we have down there.”  
“You can’t possibly be thinking of going down there!” Cortana exclaimed. “You’ll be walking right into the Didact’s hands. That’s his home turf.”  
“So we should just wait and see if something comes waltzing off this planet?” Del Rio questioned. “Something, that for all I know, could be a complete hallucination?”  
“Sir,” the Chief spoke up, “I know what I saw.”  
“The Didact literally wants to turn all of humanity into computer code!” BTS exclaimed. “And he has a weapon that can do it.” An image of the Composer popped up above the holotank. “Uh, sir.”  
Del Rio looked shocked. “A weapon that can turn biological life forms into digital data. Now that’s a good one,” he laughed angrily, shaking his head.  
BTS flattened his ears, the beginning of a growl building in his throat. The female Spartan gripped her battle rifle a little tighter.  
“It’s called a Composer,” Cortana said, giving BTS a bit of a glare. “He’s used it before, long ago. The Knights were created by it. If he gets off this planet with that weapon...there’s no telling what he’ll do. He needs to be stopped.”  
“This is ridiculous,” Del Rio said. “First, you tell me not to enter the planet. Then, you tell me not to leave the planet. What is it going to be?”  
Cortana was looking frustrated, hand over her face. BTS lashed his tail angrily.  
“Any luck in getting through to Blue?” he asked, trying to see if he could get the room to cool off.  
“We attempted to make contact with the station,” Lasky replied. “But they have been elusive of late, and we have yet to get a reply.”  
“You haven’t communicated with them in a while?” BTS asked.  
Lasky nodded. “Months.”  
BTS flattened his ears, worry building in his chest. _What if something happened to them?_  
“High Charity or no High Charity, I need material to give to FLEETCOM,” Del Rio snapped. “Either we’re going into this planet to assess the situation, or we’re leaving.”  
“I vote neither,” BTS said, putting a finger up.  
Del Rio slammed his fist onto the holotable, making Cortana jump. “With all due respect, your opinion does not matter in the running of this ship.” His voice was dismissive and scalding, making BTS’s lips curl away from his teeth.  
He curtly removed his paw from the holotable, trying to breath evenly. He really, really, really wanted to grab this guy and shake some sense into him. But that probably wouldn’t help the situation.  
Cortana was shaking. And not a good shaking.  
“Sir, we know what the Didact is capable of,” the Chief spoke up. “If we leave this planet, humanity will be at risk. We have to stay here, and try to contain him.”  
“We’re leaving,” Del Rio said curtly. “I will not be dragged into a dead-end mission by this ridiculous, delusional story you have constructed.”  
Cortana was flickering pink. “I will not allow you to…Leave! This! Planet!” she screamed. Energy burst from the holotable, making the lights and screens around them flicker. BTS jumped back, eyes widening. Almost immediately, Cortana returned to her normal state, covering her face in shame.  
“Cortana…” the Chief sounded concerned.  
“I didn’t mean to do that,” she whispered from between her fingers.  
“Commander Lasky,” Del Rio spoke to the XO, eyes blazing angrily, “pursuant to Article 55 of UNSC Regulation 12-145-72, I am ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation.”  
Cortana was shaking, hands clasped tightly together. BTS’s ears flattened, and he lowered his head threateningly, red eyes narrowing and teeth showing. Commander Lasky looked at him uncertainly.  
“Remove the chip now, Commander,” Del Rio growled.  
“Please... I don't want to…” Cortana whispered.  
Lasky slowly reached for the chip, eyes on BTS’s bared teeth. But before he could take it, the Chief removed it from the table.  
Del Rio stepped towards them. “Give. Me. That. Chip,” he snarled dangerously. Well, dangerously for a human.  
The Chief put the chip into the back of his helmet. “No, sir.”  
“I am ordering you... to surrender that AI!” Del Rio yelled thunderously. BTS saw a little bit of spit fly from his mouth.  
The Chief looked down at the captain disdainfully. “If you aren’t going to stop the Didact, then I will. And I need Cortana’s help for that.”  
Del Rio stepped back, turning to the female Spartan. “Commander! Arrest that man!” he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at the Chief. The Spartan looked at him incredulously.  
Lasky took a step forwards. “Captain…”  
“ARREST HIM!” Del Rio yelled, in a spitting rage. Literally. BTS could count the spit droplets. Man, the guy had anger issues.  
“I’m not impressed,” BTS muttered sideways to the Chief.   
“Shush,” the Chief replied. “Your sass has gotten us in enough trouble already.”  
“Captain!” Lasky tried again to rein in the raging man. He had the appearance of a kindly, tired soul who really needed a new boss.  
“Get word back to Earth that trouble is coming,” the Chief said to Lasky. “Keep trying to contact High Charity. Cortana, BTS, and I will do what we can from here.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the bridge, BTS trotting after him smugly. The tiger waved his tail in a cheeky good-bye to the bridge before the doors slid shut behind him.  
“That Del Rio guy really doesn’t like you,” he commented after the door was a few paces behind them. “Well, he doesn’t seem to like anyone that much, to be fair. What’s his deal?”  
“He believes that the Spartan-IIs are a failing program,” the Chief replied.  
“He’s also been involved in Infinity’s construction from the very beginning,” Cortana added. “He has plenty of experience commanding vessels, and he’s very familiar with this one.”  
“Should we have just let them enter the planet?” BTS asked. “I mean, we agreed it was a bad idea, but what really would’ve come of it?”  
“Requiem is swarmed with hostiles,” Cortana told him. “Infinity is just one ship. And the Didact sure isn’t going to leave Requiem in his Cryptum. He’s got to have his own ship, somewhere. And knowing him, it’s going to be something deadly. Infinity is an incredibly valuable asset to the UNSC. Losing her would be devastating.”  
“We won’t stand a chance fighting the Didact head-on if it comes to that,” BTS mused agreeably. “We need Blue. We need her and Aethon’s firepower. And we need High-fricking-Charity!”  
“They’d help even the odds,” Cortana agreed. “If we sent Infinity into the planet, and lost her, we’d lose humanity’s best ship. A small dispatch fleet, maybe, to check out the situation, would’ve been safe, but the captain didn’t seem ready to compromise. He seemed to prefer the old blowthrough op to something a bit smarter.”  
“And knowing Forerunner technology, that gravity well isn’t going to stay down forever,” BTS grumbled. “The superstructure was pretty much undamaged. That stuff can repair itself.”  
“The Didact would’ve definitely noticed Infinity if she entered the planet as well,” Cortana reasoned. “You think he would’ve just let her be?”  
“Wouldn’t he like to steal humanity’s greatest ship from them,” BTS grumbled, nodding. “Yeah, it’s probably for the best they don’t go down there.” He looked up at the Chief. “But we are, aren’t we?”  
“We need to stop the Didact from leaving the planet,” the Chief replied. “And we don’t need to risk Infinity to do it.”  
“That’s right,” BTS said proudly, feeling warm growing in his chest. “I may not have my hyperdrive, but I’ve still got all my guns and claws and teeth. And my tricks.” He grinned, showing off said very sharp teeth.  
“And the Covenant have ships,” Cortana added. “If we need more firepower, it’s all there. Infinity would be a nice ally to have, but the events of the last few hours have helped convince me that we probably can do without.”  
“Are you sure about going?” BTS dropped his voice. “I mean, Infinity could get you back to Halsey.”  
“Good luck getting them to do that and not just get rid of me,” the AI snorted, but there was a hint of fear in her voice. “Anyways, I’d rather come along for the ride.”  
BTS dipped his head, putting his ears back. “I-I’m glad to have you along. I know I can be a bit of an asshole, and I was really sassy and rude to the captain...I know I shouldn’t be, but I can’t help it all that much. He was being an asshole.”   
He looked up at the Chief. “I’m used to taking orders, but that doesn’t mean I’m a nice little obedient kitty-cat. I either do what Blue tells me, or do my own thing. I mean, I’m obviously not incompetent on my own, but it’s...it’s hard sometimes, to know the right thing to do. And it makes me frustrated. And you guys are the last people I should be taking out any frustration on. At all.”  
“Not everyone is easy to get along with,” Cortana said reassuringly. “I get it.” Her voice crackled a little.  
“I’ve got an idea about getting off this ship,” the Chief spoke up. “Follow me.”  
~


	19. 3.18: Hey Didact, What's Your Music Taste Like?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I had to think of the most distracting song on the planet that would also be great for annoying an all-powerful alien and disrupting communications...and in style, too.

3.18: Hey Didact, What’s Your Music Taste Like?

The Chief turned a corner, and BTS trotted after him. Despite this being his first tour of the ship, the Chief seemed pretty confident about where he was going. Perhaps the UNSC ships all had a similar interior layout or something.  
They passed plenty of crewmembers, and not a single one didn’t take a moment to gawk at them. BTS put his chin up; he wasn’t about to let these guys think he was upset about disobeying Del Rio’s orders. Heck, he was proud of dishing that grumpy guy. Even if it hadn’t been the best idea and had only resulted in them being insulted and doused in old man spit.  
“We’ll need to stock up on ammo,” the Chief said, bringing them into a large, bay-looking room. “There should be plenty in here.”  
“You can carry extra weapons,” Cortana said to BTS. “Power weapons. We’ll need the strongest we can get.”  
“Like these?” BTS nudged a crate with two large, drum-magazine guns on it. SAW guns, he thought.  
“Like those,” Cortana agreed. The Chief took one, and the tiger grabbed the other.  
“You don’t mind using that, do you?” the Chief asked. “I know you have your own weapons.”  
BTS grinned. “Of course I don’t.”  
“Chief!” it was the voice of that other guy from the meeting, the XO, Lasky. He was walking towards them, taking a cautious glance behind him.  
“Commander,” the Chief replied, slightly cautious.  
“I was sent down here with orders to prevent you from leaving,” Lasky told them, “but in case you had already gone, I took the precaution of ordering a Pelican, outfitted for full combat pursuit.” He looked down at BTS. “I know you’ve already got a ride, but I thought you’d appreciate a little more firepower.”  
BTS rolled his red eyes. “Pelican? More firepower than me? Psh.”  
Lasky ignored him. “What’s the plan, Chief?”  
“BTS can track the Didact,” the Chief told him. “We’ll jump ship and go back into the planet to hunt him down.”  
“I hope to God you're wrong about that Forerunner, or whatever he is, Chief,” Lasky said. “But in the event you're not…” He nodded towards a platform in the center of the room, where a Pelican was rising from the floor. “Good luck. To all of you.”  
The Chief nodded back to him, and turned to face the Pelican. BTS hopped after him on three legs, holding the SAW in one paw.  
“Pelican’s got more ammo and guns on it,” he observed. “I’ll take what I can carry when we need it.”  
The Chief walked around to the front of the Pelican and hopped into the open cockpit. “Ramp’s open, BTS.”  
“Rodger dodger,” the tiger replied, trotting around to the back of the plane. The cargo ramp was down, and he walked up it, settling himself in the belly of the vehicle.  
“I’m good,” he called. The Chief closed the ramp and initiated the launch sequence.  
Warning alarms started to ring, and the Pelican sank back into the floor, platform lowering. BTS couldn’t see out, but he could hear the trapdoors sliding shut above them.  
“I noticed you have a small hole in your armor plating,” Cortana’s voice called over the speakers hidden in the Pelican’s bay.  
“Oh, yeah,” BTS glanced down at his flank, where the potato-sized hole had been burned through his nanocomposite armor. He had a gouge on his forearm too, revealing a bit of his metallic grey internal skeleton. He put his paw over the hole in his side.  
“I’ll have to be careful,” he murmured, voice subdued. “If my shields are down and somebody gets a shot into this wound...the housing for my fusion reactor is right there.”  
“Oh,” Cortana said quietly. “Yeah...be careful.”  
The ship stopped dropping, and accelerated suddenly, making the tiger instinctively widen his stance, which was awkward while holding the SAW.  
“BTS,” the Chief’s voice sounded over a speaker hidden somewhere in the room, “the Pelican has lateral rail turrets you can operate.”  
“Cool,” the tiger said. “I’ll find them.”  
“Find the Didact first,” Cortana suggested.  
“Right,” the tiger agreed. “Didact. I remember all those weird energy signatures his Cryptum put out. They were super strange, and I should be able to feel them once we get planetside.”  
“The Pelican’s equipment will help track him as well,” Cortana said. “Just keep searching until you find something, and let us know the moment you do.”  
“Rodger dodger,” BTS replied, laying down on the floor with the SAW next to him. Might as well get comfortable.  
He shut his eyes and let his senses wander away from him. He could feel the shell of the planet closing around them as they dove, the energy of its artificial star flowing into him. Thankfully, the signature of the gravity well was still absent.  
 _I really hope we don’t have to take that thing down again…_  
He let his mind wrap around all the clues he had about where the Didact could be. _He probably has a ship. And he wants to get to it. Ship’s gonna have a signature too._  
There would be plenty of Prometheans hanging around, Covenant too. It could be hours before they came across something, giving the enemy plenty of time to prepare.   
_A ship needs a dock. A structure._  
He had plenty of things to watch out for.  
“Keep watch for any dock-like things,” he instructed. “Or any gathering of Covenant and Prometheans. They’ll probably be hanging around the Didact.”  
“Sense anything?” Cortana asked.  
He shook his head. “Not yet.”  
They flew on, the tiger laying on his side, tail twitching absentmindedly. The time that passed became of no notice to him; he was far beyond it, mind spread across the land. And, beyond them, far across to the horizon, something brightly shone.  
“Got something,” he said, focusing on it. “Adjust course-” he relayed a few directional instructions,- “large energy signature. High Covenant ship presence, and lots of energetic fluctuation around what seems to be the signature of the Cryptum.” Stretching, he pried himself off the floor, picking up the SAW.  
“The Didact’s hidden himself in a shielded bubble,” Cortana reported. “The Cryptum is currently suspended between a bunch of pylons...I’ll mark some of the larger facilities on your HUD, Chief. They're acting as traffic control for resources moving to and from the satellite. If we disrupt their communications, I can forge an override code and convince it to lower those defenses.”  
“You figured out where those rail turrets are?” the Chief asked BTS.  
“Of course,” the tiger said, holding his paws out towards the lateral walls of the Pelican. “And I can operate both of them at once.” The turrets were close enough for him to establish telekinetic contact with; twin beams of blue shot from his hands and took control of the turrets. The filaments wrapped around his paws, vanishing into his nanocomposite armor. He opened his chest cavity and stuck the SAW in for safekeeping, just in case the Chief started barrel-rolling the Pelican.  
“Multiple contacts, Phantoms,” the Chief alerted him.  
“How well can you see from back there, trying to shoot both turrets at once?” Cortana asked.  
BTS chuckled, letting snake-glass lenses slide over his eyes. “I can tell where they are just fine, my friend.”  
From his position in the middle of the Pelican’s bay, he couldn’t see outside the vessel, but with snake-glass he could see the thermal signatures of the enemy Phantoms through the walls. And while his energetic senses weren’t as good as Blue’s, he could still get a rough idea of their distance from him. And turrets weren’t exactly designed for pinpoint accuracy, anyways.  
He planted both feet, adhering energy passing between his paws and the floor. “Let ‘er rip, Chief!” he yelled. “These guns are ready!”  
The first Phantom entered his range of fire, and he locked onto it like a magnet to iron.  
“Take that, you smelly buggers!” he was having all sorts of fun, cursing at the enemy ships, even though they couldn’t hear him. Each Phantom absorbed a painful amount of bullets before disabling; each shootdown was a victory. But the Chief was a fantastic flyer, and the Pelican dodged plasma blasts like they were moving at half-speed.  
“We need to clear out enough of these around one of those towers so we can land safely,” Cortana called. “Concentrate fire on the right tower! And BTS, do you really have to be so loud?”  
Another Phantom went down in a heated fireball, BTS roaring encouragingly. The Pelican rolled and turned, facing the tower.  
“Another down,” Cortana was keeping count. “One more and we’ve got our chance!”  
“As provided,” BTS purred, swinging his turrets around. The Pelican broadsided a Phantom hovering just above the tower’s entrance, and the Covenant ship exploded.  
“Door’s opened, BTS,” the Chief said. “Get ready.”  
The bay door began to open, the Pelican descending on the tower’s platform. BTS dropped his connections to the turrets and ran out, jumping clear of the landing zone. The Pelican landed, cockpit opening. The Chief jumped out and ran for the tower door.  
BTS withdrew his SAW from his chest cavity and stood up on two feet. “Now this is a gun my size,” he purred happily, following the Chief.  
“Slight complication,” Cortana was speaking to the Chief as he ran through the door. “There are millions of transmissions passing through this structure, not simply the ones controlling the movement through the satellite's shield.”  
“Can you isolate the satellite communications?” the Spartan asked.  
“Not quickly, and shutting them all down isn’t an option, but destroying the system's attenuators should flood the network,” the AI suggested.  
“I should be able to flood it remotely,” BTS called, following the Chief through (guess what) more doors into a silver-walled hallway. “Just find me somewhere I can hunker without my head getting shot off. I’m going to need some time.”  
“There are three attenuators in this complex,” Cortana told him. “Overload them and you should be able to disrupt the whole system.”  
“I’ll need your help to find them,” BTS replied. “I don’t know what they feel like.” He tapped his temple. “Not something with a signature I’m familiar with.”  
Cortana was quiet for a moment, then: “Alright. Pass me over, Chief.”  
The Spartana removed Cortana’s data chip and placed it in BTS’s upheld paw; the tiger inserted the chip into his mouth and felt the container at the back of his throat accept it.  
 _Ok,_ Cortana sounded in his mind. _I’ll direct you to where they are._  
BTS shut his eyes and let his mind wander around the structure. There were energetic signatures everywhere, and the presence of the Didact’s satellite system was overwhelming. Alone, trying to find the correct three signatures would be a shot in the dark.  
 _There,_ Cortana pointed out three blobs of energy, spindly connections running between them and the rest of the system. _Those are them._  
BTS memorized the signatures. “Thanks for that,” he said, removing the chip from his mouth. The Chief reaccepted it and walked a few paces away, readying his weapon.  
“We’re probably gonna get some company once you start messing with those,” Cortana warned.  
“Just keep me covered,” BTS asked, sitting down on the ground. “It won’t take too long.”  
He closed his eyes again, and focused on those three signatures. He let his mind wander into the communications, to where they came from and where they went. And he opened his mind and poured his intensely-concentrated thoughts into the system: the lyrics of a centuries-old song called Milkshake, played at deafening volume.  
“Oh boy,” Cortana said, trying her best to sound polite.  
 _Get your shit-ass communications out of my way! Move over for Kelis!_ BTS forced his thoughts over everything else in the system, batting bits and pieces of information out of his way, pouring more and more energy into the connections. He imagined the sound being played by ten thousand different boomboxes on every public beach across the entire United States. Check, make that across the entire planet Earth.  
“That's it! Transmission buffers are overflowing,” Cortana said excitedly. “Let’s get to the second tower.”  
“My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard…” BTS realized he was singing out loud. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, transmission’s dead. Moving on.”  
The Chief shook his head exasperatedly and walked back out the door.  
BTS wound the bundle of ten thousand boomboxes into a neat, repeating coil, and threw it into the waves of the system, where it would continue his nefarious work until its internal energy ran out (in about seven hours; you’re welcome, Didact).  
“Whoo,” he muttered, blinking his eyes back open. He stood up. “That really gave my head a ring.”  
“You shouldn’t have to do it again,” Cortana said. “At least, I hope so. For all our sakes.”  
“Don’t worry, I’ll choose a different song if I have to do that again,” the tiger chuckled. “I’ve got an entire library of obnoxious music.”  
“Cortana, where’s this coming from?” the Chief suddenly spoke up, looking around.  
“Where’s what coming from?” the AI asked, sounding confused.  
“The Didact’s voice,” the Chief replied, after a pause.  
“I got nothing,” BTS said, confused. “But he might not be able to get in here,” he knocked on his head. “Not unless he can break through telepathy shields.”  
“He’s out there,” the Chief was speaking to Cortana. “Keep trying.”  
They reached the exterior of the tower, returning to the Pelican. The Chief jumped into the cockpit and dropped the cargo door for the tiger.  
“Maybe we’ll actually get to use these puppies this time?” BTS asked hopefully, hefting his SAW.  
“You can probably count on it,” Cortana’s voice sounded from the front. “First though, we’ve got more Phantoms to take care of.”  
The rest of the Covenant ships were clustered protectively around the other tower; the Chief made to flank the most of them, giving BTS a good shot from one of his turrets. Coordinating the flight with the firepower made easier work of the Phantoms.  
“Covenant air traffic is increasing,” Cortana warned. “If we don't disable the other tower quickly, reaching the Didact could become exponentially more difficult.”  
“I can shield the Pelican if I have to,” BTS called. “I can’t do that and control both turrets, though.”  
“Keep on the turrets,” the AI told him. “We’re still airtight, for now.”  
A Phantom exploded, close enough to be apparently audible. BTS swung the right turret around, fending off another one of the ships.   
“No kidding about the air traffic!” he growled, wincing as he felt the Pelican shudder from plasma impact.  
“Keep shooting!” Cortana yelled, voice crackling.  
Two Phantoms exploded simultaneously. BTS sensed incoming plasma fire, and tore his mind from the turrets. The weapons went slack, and a bubble shield appeared off the flank of the Pelican, blocking the shots.  
“Left rear!” the tiger shouted, grimacing. Even as he spoke, the Chief was already turning the Pelican around, and BTS quickly took the turrets back up to take his shots.  
“That’s all of them!” Cortana said hurriedly. “Get ready to exit, BTS!”  
“Rodger dodger!” the tiger readied his SAW, facing the cargo door. It creaked open, revealing a slice of the platform below. He ran off the end and dropped straight down, quickly running for the cover of the tower.  
~


	20. 3.19: Things Do Not Go As Planned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will finish posting this, darnit. I will not fade into the weeds. I will not get distracted by the five different ideas my brain spawned at the same time.

3.19: Things Do Not Go As Planned

The door to the tower opened, letting the ragtag team through. When the door shut, it dulled the chaotic sounds from outside - plasma fire and the rage of crashing Phantoms.  
“This node is different from the previous tower,” Cortana said, sounding relieved. “The source of the tower communications is a carrier wave generator located somewhere inside.”  
They passed through two more doors, entering into a large, seemingly bottomless chamber. Far across the way, past many other smaller structures dotting the sides of the chamber, was a platform that was humming with energy.  
“It looks like the carrier wave generator is located at the far end of this chamber,” Cortana observed. “There’s a gondola at the far end of this platform. Should do the trick.”  
BTS followed the Chief out to the gondola. “Ya know, I probably fly faster than this clunky thing.”  
“Good point,” Cortana replied, “but you can also get shot down faster than that thing.”  
“Hmph,” the tiger grumbled, rolling his red eyes. “Shot down by what? A Grunt with a plasma pistol?”  
“This room is big enough for more than a few surprises,” Cortana replied. “And you literally have a hole in your side leading straight to your fusion reactor.” She didn’t sound like she was in an argumentative mood.  
“Fine,” BTS forced himself to say. The AI did have a good point about the hole in his side. “We’ll take the slow way.”  
They boarded the gondola. The tiger positioned himself at the front, paws kneading the floor anxiously. He was ready to bet his left leg that there were enemies hiding in the chamber somewhere. They could never be lucky enough to avoid them entirely.  
The gondola rumbled to life and began moving. BTS switched his vision to thermal and scanned the structures on the right side of the chamber. “It’s crawling with Covenant over there,” he called, pointing.   
“They can’t get to us, though,” Cortana reasoned.  
The gondola ground to a halt.  
“You had to jinx us,” the tiger complained.  
“I-” Cortana was cut off as the Chief smacked the side of his helmet with a hand.  
BTS hunched, feeling a bit chastised as well. He scurried into cover as plasma fire began to rain down on their position.  
“Controls for the override are up on that platform,” Cortana said, voice drifting from nearby as the Chief also hunkered into cover. “Though I’m beginning to think plan BTS is a quicker option.”  
“I agree with that plan,” BTS called from where he was sheltering. “Before they figure out a way to get over here!”  
The Chief ran over to his position, chased by a barrage of plasma fire. BTS dropped onto all fours, stuffing his SAW into his chest cavity. The Spartan jumped onto his back and he ran for the edge of the gondola, extending his wings. They were backlit quite cinematically by the glowing plasma that pursued them; it was probably a great action shot.  
The tiger shot away from the gondola, engines humming. Cries of anger followed their escape, as the Covenant shook their fists, nefarious plans foiled.  
“More contacts ahead, left side,” BTS called. “I’m shielding up.”  
He formed a bubble shield around himself and his passenger, not a moment too soon. The red-hot beam of a binary rifle struck the shield, making it shudder. The Chief fired back at the platform, sending the sniper Knight into hiding.  
“Are any of you hearing him?” the Chief asked.  
“Didact?” Cortana and BTS responded in unison. The Chief nodded.  
“No,” Cortana replied.  
“We shouldn’t have asked,” BTS muttered, rolling his eyes. “Who else would it be?”  
He landed on the far platform, and the Chief jumped from his back.  
“The carrier wave generator is on the top of that platform. You only have to enter the field to trigger the EMP,” Cortana instructed.   
“We’ve got company incoming,” BTS warned. “I’ll cover you while you blast the thing.”  
The Chief nodded and ran for the wave generator, which looked like nothing more than a bright, vertical beam of orange light. BTS readied his SAW, grinning.  
A pair of Knights phased in, blocking the Chief’s path to the generator. BTS shot at one of them, beating it back with his superior rate-of-fire. The Spartan slipped through the gap between the constructs, turning to fire at the second Knight as he made his way up to the generator. The Knights shrieked in challenge, orange eyes glowing.  
BTS snarled, jumping at one of the Knights. He kicked it hard in the chest, sending it flying off the edge of the platform, crippled. In the same instant, he turned and fired at the other Knight, keeping it off the Chief as he jumped up to the generator’s platform.  
“Clear!” he called, lowering his SAW as the Knight melted into nothingness. The Chief walked into the generator beam, using his shields to create the disabling EMP.  
“Flying dudes incoming!” the tiger yelled, sensing the approach of the smaller Prometheans. The Chief, shieldless, quickly ducked for cover, giving BTS a moment of personal time with his flying foes.  
“I really hate you guys,” the tiger announced, aiming down the SAW.  
The sound of little, Promethean explosions was music to his feline ears.  
“They take so many more bullets than I want them to,” he muttered sadly, eyeing his remaining ammo.  
“That’s the last of them,” Cortana confirmed. “Mind giving us a ride back to the other side?”  
“Not at all,” BTS said with a little mock bow as he dropped back onto four paws. “Be my guest.”  
The Chief jumped onto his back and he flew away, passing the gondola, sitting peacefully where the Covenant had frozen it. A few of the remaining individuals shot at the passing tiger, but he was too high up to hit them.  
“All communications between the towers and satellite have ceased,” Cortana reported. “We should be clear.”  
BTS landed in front of the doorway leading to the outside, which opened to let them through. “I’m sensing heavy energetic changes coming from the Cryptum, Cortana. That bastard is up to something.”  
They emerged back outside, the Pelican sitting peaceful and undamaged. BTS walked to the edge of the platform to try and squint at the Cryptum. It was hidden behind the body of the tower, but he could sense waves of energy emanating from it.  
“He knows what we're trying to do,” Cortana called, sounding worried. “If we try to get too close to that ship, we're dead.”  
“Those fields feel kinda like airburst-EMPs to me,” BTS agreed. “Thought I could be wrong. I’m not familiar with what Forerunner technology feels like. Either way, I don’t want to go near them.”  
The Pelican’s cargo bay opened up, admitting him. “We need to stop him from leaving without actually going near him.”  
The Pelican lifted off, swinging around the tower. BTS heard nothing else from Cortana, but he had a feeling they were headed in a purposeful direction.  
There weren’t any other Phantoms hanging around, so BTS focused most of his energy on analysing the signatures the Cryptum was putting out. He briefly wished Blue was here...she’d be so helpful in deciphering what it all meant. Just like they had worked together to figure out how to manipulate the Luminaries, she would know how to read these signatures. And how to fight them.  
 _It’s whatever, I guess._ BTS loved a good, head-on fight, but he knew some things weren’t winnable that way. Or even at all.  
The Pelican slowed, descending. He felt it touch down, and the cargo door opened.  
“There’s a control room in this tower for all those defense spires,” Cortana’s voice sounded in the cargo bay. “If we can get to it, we may be able to reposition them to block the Didact’s ship from leaving.”  
“Sounds good to me,” BTS said, hefting his SAW and walking down the cargo ramp. “Didact’s still yelling at you, Chief?”  
“Yes,” the Spartan replied, heading for the doorway. “It’s getting annoying.”  
“How rude of him,” the tiger muttered. “I hate when telepathic people aren’t on the same side as me.”  
He followed the Spartan into the tower, through more doors (arg) and up a gravity lift. The blue energy buoyed them upwards, into an expansive room. The sound of mechanical and energetic movements rang in BTS’s ears; their surroundings were in chaos, constantly shifting and changing.  
“He's altering the tower!” Cortana yelled, shocked.  
“Mount up!” BTS ordered, dropping onto fours and dipping a shoulder. “This place ain’t safe for walking!”  
“There’s a gravity lift on the far side of the room,” Cortana said. “The controls are at the top of the tower; that’s the only way!”  
“We’ll be there!” BTS promised, extending his wings.   
He flew up, carrying them beyond the range of most Covenant weaponry. The Didact had reorganized the tower below them into a zig-zagging patchwork of towers and bridges, all swarming with Covenant, firing uselessly into the air. Plasma turret shots zinged past BTS’s tail, making him swerve. He had specified “most” weaponry, not all.  
Two large, hulking figures dropped down from the gravity lift, blocking their path. BTS dipped a wing and flew left, avoiding their line-of-fire.  
“I’ll get around back of them, and we can give ‘em the SAW,” he said. “Gonna probably run outta ammo on these two, though. It’s unfortunate.”  
“Whatever works, just as long as it’s quick,” Cortana agreed. She sounded a little too ominous for his liking.  
He flew around the platform, hopefully giving the two Mgalekgolo a headache from all the spinning. He outpaced them, got behind the nearest one, and dove for a pass.  
He and the Chief open-fired, peppering the big creature’s lightly-armored back. It roared furiously, turning around. BTS dipped a wing and zoomed away, dodging a pair of fuel-rod shots. The two Mgalekgolo clustered angrily at the edge of the platform, lobbing more green blobs at them.  
“I have an idea,” BTS said, donning his supercloak as he swept around. “If they’re going to stand so nicely on that ledge for me…”  
He landed behind them, crouching. Mass of large metal tiger + mass of Spartan + metal tiger’s extremely powerful hind legs = pounce that sent both Mgalekgolo teetering off the edge of the platform and into the abyss.  
“Well done,” Cortana praised.  
With the Chief still on his back (chances of the next room also being hard to walk in were disagreeably high), he entered the gravity lift. His paws left the ground and he floated upwards, way too peaceful of a motion for how much carnage was currently surrounding them. He would’ve preferred a nice, hearty charge up some spiral staircase, yelling and waving weapons medieval-style. Much more invigorating.  
The next room up was just as big as the first, and also a labyrinth of random bridges and towers. Banshees were patrolling overhead, and BTS could see numerous Covenant turrets stationed along the towers.  
“Free Banshee,” he observed, pointing at a parked vessel on the first tower.  
“I’ll take it,” the Chief said, jumping off his back.  
“Okeedokee,” BTS turned away from the Spartan, eyeing the sky. He heard the sound of a Sangheili dying, and then the parked Banshee took off.  
The Chief was all set; he didn’t need any more help. The tiger jumped off the platform, catching air and curving towards the first enemy Banshee. He donned his supercloak, sneaking up on the thing from below, and rammed it with his shoulder, hitting the wing and sending the vessel into a spiral. The pilot righted the spin, only to be hit head-on by the tiger, and have his damaged wing ripped right off the fuselage.  
BTS threw the severed wing at a turret that was shooting at him, causing the operator to dive out of the way. The wing crushed the turret’s casing, rendering it useless. The operator, a stout Unggoy, shook a fist at him angrily.  
“Bruh, don’t even,” BTS chuckled, rolling his eyes. He had more Banshees to chase; no time for that little squirt.  
A flaming wreck went spiraling into the abyss off his right, followed by an explosion as the Banshee hit the wall of the chamber. BTS quickly switched to thermal and scanned the area; the Chief’s Banshee went flying by the crash site; it had been him on the giving, not the receiving, end of that. The tiger exhaled quietly, not that he had been worried or anything. Totally not.   
He mowed down a line of Kig-Yar and a turret, noting the structures at the far side of the chamber. That seemed to be their only way out, and probably the right way to go.  
The Chief was trying to shake another Banshee; the tiger flew over to assist, landing on top of the enemy vessel. The Chief looped around, passing overhead, and shot the pilot through the rear of the cockpit, the Banshee going dead beneath the tiger’s paws. He jumped away from it and let it fall, coming level with the Chief’s Banshee.  
“I’ve located the exit,” he called, pointing. “It’s only somewhat clear but I think we can make it.” He flew up above the Banshee. “Just stay near me.”  
He stretched his supercloak to try and encompass the whole Banshee; it kinda worked, but he could feel exhaustion building on the very edges of his consciousness. First flooding the network, and now this; it was pushing at his abilities. But he was determined not to let the Chief down. And he bounced back quick.  
The cloaked Banshee flew up to the exit, unnoticed. The Chief landed it and opened the cockpit, stepping out. BTS landed next to him, and drew the supercloak off the ship, leaving just a bubble around them two. The sudden appearance of the Banshee sparked alarm, but by the time the other Banshees had gotten close enough to shoot, the Spartan and the tiger were already through the door.  
BTS dropped the supercloak, exhaling. “Man, I’m gonna need a long nap after this.”  
“We’re staying one step ahead of the Didact,” Cortana said confidently. “Drink your mental coffee and let’s keep going. Spire controls are up ahead. Put me in there, Chief.”  
The door shut behind them as they ran for the controls, positioned nicely in front of a panoramic window with a view of the Cryptum, hovering ominously. How lovely of a view of the uber sphere of death they were trying so hard to avoid.  
The Chief plugged Cortana’s data chip into the console and she appeared above it, turning to observe the scene in front of them. “Tapping into the spires' central net,” she reported.  
The spires around the area began to move, converging on the Cryptum. They surrounded it, forming a pyramid above it, closing it off from the sky. More pillars moved in to seal it off completely.  
“Gotcha, bitch!” BTS cheered, pumping a fist in the air.   
“Ah!” Cortana suddenly screamed, flickering. The avatar wrapped her hands around her ears, as if something was too loud. The Cryptum glowed brightly, and then dropped like a stone.  
“Holy-” the tiger sensed a massive energetic fluctuation move through the ground below them, so strong it felt like an actual earthquake. He couldn’t see what was going on below them, but he had a feeling it was very, very bad.  
The Chief grabbed Cortana’s data chip from the terminal; their platform was lowering, giving them access to the outside. The AI must’ve done that for some good reason.  
The Chief ran for the edge of the platform; he stopped and looked over at BTS, waving for him to follow. The tiger complied, stuffing his almost-empty SAW into his chest.  
The Chief jumped onto his back. “Get us to one of those Lichs.”  
BTS moved to take off, and then froze, looking down. A massive ship was rising from the ground, the Cryptum just a glowing dot descending to meet it.  
“Uh, are you seeing this?” he asked. “Or am I hallucinating?”  
“Yes,” the Chief replied, sounding impatient.  
“To which question?” the tiger asked.  
The Chief thumped him on the head with the side of his fist.  
“Admittedly, I deserved that,” BTS grumbled, scrunching his head into his neck.  
The ship crashed into the overhanging spires, fracturing them like they were made of plywood. The Cryptum vanished somewhere inside the monstrous vessel.  
“We’re in deep doo-doo,” the tiger said strickenly, and jumped off the edge. He landed on top of one of the Lichs, his claws unsheathing and biting into the surface. The massive Forerunner ship rose towards the sky, the Covenant vessels gathering around it.  
“What is that thing?” BTS asked, eyes wide.  
“The Didact’s actual ship,” Cortana replied grimly.  
Their Lich moved into position, dwarfed by the Forerunner vessel. Above them, the metal shell of Requiem split, revealing the darkness of space beyond.  
“We should get below decks,” BTS suggested hastily.  
“And have to deal with everyone else inside?” the Chief questioned. “We’ll be fine. Just get behind that fin.”  
“Are you sure?” BTS asked, moving to the more sheltered area behind the Lich’s fin.  
“Yes,” the Chief replied, sounding impatient again.  
“Okee,” BTS said with a shrug. He sat down, and the Chief got off his back, taking a seat next to him.  
Energy appeared around them; the ship was shielding itself in preparation for slipspace entry. And because they were behind the sharp angle of the fin, they were underneath the shield. Pretty neat!  
“Won’t this take a while?” BTS asked.  
“The Forerunner ship opened the portal,” Cortana told him. “The Forerunners have the most efficient slipspace systems known to us. We should be wherever we’re going in only a short time.”  
“And I think I have an idea of where that is,” the Chief said. “The Didact mentioned a Composer in human possession “in the shadow of the third ring”.”  
“We’re going to a Halo?” BTS guessed.  
“A human research station near a Halo,” Cortana corrected. “One that holds his most dangerous weapon.” She sounded grim.  
BTS looked at the Chief. He seemed fine, despite the lack of oxygen.  
 _Well, that answers my question. Spartans don’t need oxygen. Or more likely he’s got some source of it stashed away somewhere._  
He opened his mouth to say more, and then realized that no oxygen meant no air, and no air meant no talking. Disgruntled, he put his head down on his paws. _Well, time to catch some rest, I guess._  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	21. 3.20: Ivanoff Station

3.20: Ivanoff Station

BTS felt rays of starlight on his face and opened his eyes. They’d returned to realspace, in the shadow of the third ring.  
They were approaching a man-made facility amongst a cluster of asteroids, the Halo looming above them. The ring hung peacefully in the dark void of space, its terraformed surface a bright strip of blues, greens, and white clouds. Like someone had used a potato peeler to cut away the surface of a fertile planet, and had laid it within the mechanical superstructure of the ring. Even though it wasn’t the first Halo the tiger had seen, it still demanded a moment of awe anyways.  
The Chief was already up, observing their situation. He noticed BTS moving, and turned. He pointed at the station.  
BTS shrugged helplessly. Still no air meant still no talking.  
The Chief removed Cortana’s data chip and held it out to the tiger. He tilted his head, confused, but accepted the chip and inserted it into his mouth.  
 _Chief wants you to contact the station and warn them,_ Cortana told him. _We need to get those people off of it. Now, hand me back, please._  
BTS removed the chip and passed it back, nodding affirmatively. He dropped a shoulder, letting the Chief get on his back.  
And they were away, soaring through the darkness of space. The tiger reached his mind out to the station, finding the source of their transmissions. Hopefully, someone was listening.  
 _This is BTS accompanied by UNSC Master Chief and Cortana. Come in, base.  
I hear you, _the reply sounded in his head. _This is Sandy Tillson of Ivanoff Station. We’re being approached by numerous hostiles!  
They're after a Forerunner artifact you took from the Halo ring, _BTS replied. _A big, blueish thing called the Composer. We can’t let them have it.  
How do you know about that? _Sandy sounded suspicious.  
 _Long story short, we’ve been through a lot of shit in recent times. You need to get your people off the station before the Covenant lands. Anyone who isn’t in the business of fighting with real weapons doesn’t have business being here.  
Ok, _the voice sounded a little calmer now. _We can do that.  
We’re incoming on a landing bay. Ahead of the Covenant, for now. But they’ll be here soon._  
He passed through the entrance to the landing bay, and inhaled the delicious, delicious air surrounding them. “Thank goodness, the silence was starting to kill me,” he chuckled.  
“Really? I was enjoying it,” Cortana replied humorously.  
The Chief got off the tiger’s back and walked away, clearly more interested in the current situation than his two companions’ never-ending stream of verbal prodding.  
They emerged from the bay into a hallway; alarms were in the process of blaring quite obnoxiously, at least in the tiger’s opinion. As they watched, two scientists went running by, clearly on the edge of panic. A lone security guard was trying to direct the evacuation, but his words were ignored.  
“These people are gonna get slaughtered,” BTS said, ears flattened. “They’re not the least prepared for an attack like this.” That much was incredibly obvious.  
“We should try and get to one of the station’s landing bays,” Cortana suggested. “Help keep it open so they can escape.”  
“We need to protect the Composer too,” BTS argued. But then he quickly held up a paw, knowing this would go nowhere good with the AI. “Just my thought, but it’s whatever. I’ll go where you tell me.”  
“Doctor Tillson,” the Chief was contacting the lady BTS had spoken to. “What’s your location?”  
BTS couldn’t hear the reply, but whatever it was, it seemed to be the decisive factor in their next move. The Chief was weapons up and away not a moment later.  
“Do they have any way of keeping the Covenant ships from landing?” BTS asked, following him.  
“Barricades, probably,” Cortana replied. She didn’t have any other information to offer, which was worrying.  
“I’m going out there,” the tiger decided, feeling nerves beginning to build in his stomach. Or maybe his fusion reactor was leaking. “I’m going to do whatever I can to keep them out. If they can’t get in, they can’t get at the Composer.”  
“I don’t think the Didact has to worry about getting in here,” Cortana argued.  
“What, he can’t just blow the place up!” BTS protested. “That would blow up the Composer too!”  
“This isn’t helping,” the Chief cut across their arguing. BTS flattened his ears and looked away.  
“The nearest bay is Bay 7,” the Chief said.   
The tiger nodded. “I’ll contact you if anything changes.” He stopped walking, letting the Spartan go ahead, and turned to run back the way he came.  
“Where’s Bay 7?” he called to a passing guard. The man, looking terrified, just pointed. The tiger nodded gratefully and sped off.  
He emerged into the bay, a large, double-leveled room with one side open to the darkness of space. Approaching to deposit troops were at least two Phantoms.  
BTS growled, drawing his SAW from his chest cavity. “Oh no you don’t!”  
It then occurred to him that he had no idea where the barricade controls were. Without them, the Phantoms would just keep coming.  
The Phantoms were going to be way too close for comfort in just a few seconds.  
The tiger spotted a pair of nervous security guards up on the second level of the bay. Gathering his legs beneath him, he leapt across the room, soaring through the air. His free paw wrapped around the railing of the second level, feet bracing against the wall below it. The two guards jumped about ten feet in the air; one of them even fired a few bullets at the tiger before recognizing him as a friendly. The shots bounced harmlessly off his nanocomposite chest.  
“Where’s the barricade controls?” he asked.  
“Out there, at the end of the dock!” one of the guards told him, pointing. BTS nodded gratefully, then turned away from the wall, gauging his next jump. He spotted the controls; they were way out, towards open space, on a round platform.  
Alright. He had his target. He pushed off from the wall, soaring through the air. The leap took him right to the platform’s beginning; he landed on three legs and made a dash for the controls, eyes fixated on the approaching Phantom. It was opening its bay doors, getting ready to release troops.  
BTS reached the controls and slammed his paw down on the screen. A voice sounded over the comms, giving a brief countdown, and a blue barrier appeared over the opening in the bay. The Phantom veered away, approach countered.  
“Yeah!” the tiger cheered, thrusting his SAW in the air. “That’s right, you fools!”  
 _But this is just Bay 7...which means there are at least 6 other bays they can enter through._  
He turned and ran back along the platform, jumping to his original position on the railing. “How do I get to the next nearest hangar?” he asked the guards. “We need to close them down.”  
“Follow us!” the nearest guard replied.  
He followed the guards out of the hangar bay and down the hall, a run for them but an almost-leisurely trot for him. They led him to another door like the first, and opened it.  
The hangar was in the process of being brutally overrun by Covenant, shooting at anything that moved. BTS stepped past the guards, gun pointed up.  
“Let me take care of this,” he advised. “I need you guys to show me around to the rest of the places. If you die, then you can’t do that.”  
They nodded nervously, eyeing the carnage inside the hangar. “Good luck to you,” one said apprehensively.  
The tiger inclined his head gratefully and ran through the door, rearing up onto his hind legs and letting out an ear-shattering roar.  
Many Unggoy and Kig-Yar, especially those nearest to him, cried out and covered their ears in pain, curling up. The sound resonated through the air, along with the raw cheers of the few humans that were left standing.  
The tiger spotted them, pinned in their place of final stand on the second story of the hangar.  
First priority, clear them some space. They would be crushed in minutes without help.  
He leapt up to the railing, twisting his body and firing his SAW at the nearest enemies. A nearby Unggoy spotted the light gleaming off his metallic body, the furious glare in his red eyes, and promptly fled, throwing his weapon away behind him. His close surroundings were cleared of foes as the humans regained their bravado and joined his counter.  
“I need to get to those controls!” BTS told the survivors, pointing to the harbormaster platform far out in the hangar. “Can you guys hold them off for a little longer?”  
One of the individuals, eyes drawn and grim, nodded firmly. His gaze momentarily flicked to another man, slouched against the wall, hands pressed over a raw burn across his side, breathing shallowly.  
BTS’s bravado dimmed. _I wish I could heal like Blue…  
Where is she?_  
He jumped off the railing, repeating his maneuvers from the last hangar. Plasma shots and needles bounced off his shields; he shot back at his attackers and ran for the button, slamming his paw down on it. He ducked as a carbine slug flew over his head; the Sangheili responsible reacted similarly to the SAW bullets fired back at him. The tiger quickly moved back towards cover.  
The Phantoms couldn’t return, but there were still plenty of Covenant around, and they were leaving the hangar in droves to move deeper into the station.  
 _Damnit!_ The other hangars would all be overrun by the time he got to them. He could close them, but the damage had already been done. They had been breached, thoroughly breached.  
He kicked a Kig-Yar’s shield, foot going right through it and snapping the owner’s neck. The humans took down another; the Covenant were starting to surround them again.  
BTS emptied the last of his SAW ammo and threw the empty gun at a group of Unggoy, scattering them. Plates on his back unfolded and his energy turret deployed, mobile stand arranging to point the gun’s barrel over his shoulder. He ran back, jumping up to the human's’ position.  
“We need to get out of here,” he said, towering over them and looking out to the darkness of space. “The station needs to be evacuated. We’re not going to be able to hold it.”  
“You don’t think?” one of the people asked, a bit sarcastically.  
The tiger shook his head sadly, watching an Unggoy’s pierced methane tank send its owner into a wall. “They’re going to overrun the station. There aren’t enough of us.”  
“We’ll help you close the other bays,” the first person he’d talked to, who seemed to be their impromptu leader, offered. “But he needs medical attention.” He pointed at the injured man.   
BTS nodded. “Get behind me. I’ll get us out of here.”  
He heard a yell; the Covenant had reached the door the two original guards were behind. A dead Kig-Yar fell back, but a Sangheili rushed to fill his place, roaring.  
BTS formed a shield bubble around him and the other humans, and charged for the door, gesturing for them to follow. The humans scurried after him, supporting their injured fellow. The tiger exited the bubble, which lagged behind to remain protecting the people. The effort of keeping the shield delocated made his head throb faintly.  
He landed on the Sangheili’s back, knocking him against the stairs. His paws grabbed his shoulders, and he closed his jaws around his helmet. Shields sparked under his teeth, and he jerked his head sideways. The Sangheili’s shields broke, and so did his neck. The tiger twisted around and flung the body down the stairs, knocking away those who were trying to climb up after him.   
The humans, moving at the pace of their injured comrade, reached the stairs. Their shield bubble was flickering, looking broken and thin in places. BTS was having trouble maintaining it at a distance; he trotted down the stairs and re-joined them, making his headache a little better.  
He dissipated the shield bubble as soon as the humans were through the door. The hallway was clear, but he could hear the sounds of screaming and weapons fire echoing from up ahead.  
“Bay 6 is secure,” the leader was speaking to someone else through an earpiece. “Yea, the barrier’s been activated and the Covenant have been cleared out.” He looked up worriedly. “The halls have become overrun in various places.”  
Suddenly, the Didact’s orange scanning beam moved past them, lighting the hallways with an eerie glow. BTS bared his teeth. “He’s looking for the Composer.”  
“The Composer?” the leader asked. “What is he going to do, take it?”  
BTS cocked his head, confused. “Uh...yes?”  
“Have you seen how big the thing is?” the leader asked dubiously. “I can’t even fathom how they got it here in the first place.”  
“Well, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t think he could take it,” the tiger replied.  
The leader didn’t reply; he was listening to someone over his earpiece. “They’re going to destroy the station,” he said somberly. “We’re to evacuate immediately. They’re routing people to Bays 6 and 7 for evacuation in addition to the other lifeboats.”  
“That’s two more evac routes than we had before,” BTS said optimistically. “I’ll help escort people to these places.”  
“We’ll keep the Covenant away,” the leader promised.  
“Attention, attention,” the comms buzzed in the background. “Lifeboat 12, A-11 is now filled to capacity and about to depart. Do not head to 12, A-11- we're prepping additional shuttles out of Bay 7, C-5 and Bay 6. Again, Lifeboat 12, A-11 is exhausted and about to launch.”  
“Do the lifeboats have defenses?” BTS asked.  
“Not much,” the leader admitted.  
The tiger swung his head around, eyes widening. “They’re going to get shredded out there.”  
“We’ll get shredded in here,” the leader argued. “It’s our best bet.”  
“When you get people here, wait until all the lifeboats are full to launch,” BTS ordered. “I can better protect you if you’re in a group than if you’re spread out.”  
“We can try, but it’s going to come to a point where we’re going to have to leave, everyone accounted for or not,” the leader warned.  
The tiger dropped his head. “I know. Just do your best, and I’ll do mine. I can’t promise you anything else.”  
~


	22. 3.21: We Did the Best We Could

3.21: We Did the Best We Could

The first wave of evacuees were coming down the hallway, looking stricken and panicked. BTs pushed past them without much acknowledgement, eyes grim, and headed deeper into the station. They were headed in the right direction, towards evacuation, so that was all that mattered.  
He rounded the corner and ran into a group of Kig-Yar; his paw wrapped around the gangly neck of one and crushed it mercilessly. He flung the dead body into the others, hard enough that he heard the sound of bones crunching, and stalked onwards, tail twitching angrily.  
He spotted a sign for another hangar bay, leading him to a set of double doors. Beyond them, Covenant stalked through the corpses and carnage, cackling at their perceived victory. They didn’t notice the supercloaked tiger slinking into their midst, looking for a good way to drop the most of them in one go.  
There was a UNSC fighter craft in the bay, off to the side and unscathed. The Covenant were ignoring it for the moment; maybe, given enough time and lack of orders, they’d start vandalizing it. It wasn’t a Pelican; smaller, though around the same height. It lacked the bulky build of a troop-mover; it had a cockpit for a single pilot. Something designed for speed and aerial combat.  
 _Let’s hope I fit,_ BTS thought with a bit of dark humor. He climbed up into the back of the aircraft and opened the cockpit, looking doubtfully at the small space. It would be a tight squeeze, but the aircraft likely had more firepower than he and his energy turret did. Plus, it would act like an extra set of armor, and keep dastardly stray shots away from the hole in his side.  
It would be functional, not comfortable. But, at least he didn’t have to worry about his limbs cramping up or falling asleep. One of the many bonuses of not having a circulatory system.  
He unsheathed a claw and cut the seat from the cockpit, getting rid of the fabric and padding, opening himself a little more space. Quietly, he lowered the removed seat to the floor; none of the Covenant in the bay noticed. He shoved his rump into the cockpit, curling himself into as tight a ball as possible. He didn’t need to touch the controls to be able to pilot the fighter; being inside the cockpit would put him close enough to use his telepathy. The cockpit closed, pushing down on his head just a little.  
It was so, so not comfortable. But it was what he had to do to get an edge. And if he couldn’t thin the pack of Phantoms outside, the evacuees would never escape the station’s airspace.  
He pushed his senses into the system, reading its name and every other detail. This was a powerful ship, a lot of punch in a small package, as he had been hoping. It could go toe-to-toe with those Phantoms outside no problem.  
 _Let’s do this._  
BTS dropped his supercloak as the Broadsword’s engines activated. The hangar full of foes reacted in surprise, guns up to shoot at the vessel, but the tiger disregarded them, letting their shots fail against his vessel’s shields. The ship was up and out, crossing over into space and leaving the station behind.  
The tiger immediately spotted the lifeboat that had been discharged; it was swarmed with Phantoms, and before his horrified eyes, plasma bolts pierced it through, the explosion ripping silently through space.  
 _You bastards!_ BTS bared his teeth angrily, gunning the Broadsword. The ship hurtled towards the Phantoms, weapons blazing. The autocannon tore through the rear of the nearest enemy ship, damaging it. The Broadsword spiraled past its target, and the Phantom was destroyed as a pair of missiles impacted the damaged part of its hull.  
The tiger yanked the craft around, avoiding return-fire from the Phantoms. They chased him doggedly, now that they had no more shuttles to viciously shoot down. BTS looped around, impressed by the Broadsword’s nimble handling. He cut a Phantom down the middle with the autocannon, but the dropship stayed afloat, veering away and coming back at him with fury.  
The Broadsword dipped, BTS trying to lead his pursuers away from the station. _I need more power. These autocannons are good, but against this many targets it’ll take hours to clear them out enough to let the lifeboats escape. And I don’t have nearly enough rockets to ensure a safe passage._  
He patched the Broadsword’s communications into the station. “This is BTS aboard the Broadsword that’s currently being pursued by several Phantoms. I’m trying to clear the lifeboats an escape route, but there are too many targets out here.”  
“The Chief is going to reactivate the station’s defenses,” Dr. Tillson’s voice replied. “They should be able to provide cover for the evacuation.”  
“I can cover a group of shuttles if there is one ready,” the tiger said. He looped around, and cut a line through one of his pursuers; he hit something important and the dropship exploded. Snarling, he fired two more rockets at another; it went up in flames brilliantly.  
“We’re loading shuttles out of Bay 7 and 6,” Dr. Tillson replied. “I’ll let you know when they’re ready.”  
BTS spun the Broadsword; plasma fire glanced off the shields around his port wing. He’d led his pursuers a significant distance from the station, though plenty more were hovering around the place. There were too many to distract all of them with just one Broadsword.  
 _Hmmm._  
He turned sharply, aiming back for the station. Throttling up to full, he charged at another swarm of Phantoms, hovering around one of the compromised bays. The ships turned to meet him, but the moment they did, the Broadsword dropped right out of existence.  
BTS reappeared on the other side of the Phantoms, teeth bared into a pained snarl at the pounding in his head. His control over the Broadsword was shaky, and the craft scuttled sideways, away from the station. He instinctively tried to shake his head, to get rid of the nagging feeling, and slammed his skull against the side of the too-small cockpit. His vision blurred and his control over the Broadsword dropped, leaving the ship drifting in space.  
The wave of pursuing Phantoms appeared out of thin air (er, space), and crashed right through the swarm of their fellows, explosions rocking the site and pieces of nanolaminate flying everywhere. BTS dropped the thin sheet of supercloaking he’d put between the two fleets of Phantoms, a bit of energy cast in space like a one-way window, hiding the Phantoms from each other for just long enough. When the energy dissipated, he felt the throbbing in his head lessen slightly. The throbbing was a warning - he was pushing his systems too much.  
 _I...I can’t do that again. Not while I’m also telepathically linked to this ship._  
He regained control of the Broadsword, pushing his headache aside. The trick had wiped a good portion of the Phantoms away from the station, and put the fleet into temporary disarray.  
He reached out to contact Cortana. “How close are you to getting those defenses back up?” he asked.  
“Almost,” she replied, voice crackly.  
Another beam of orange light emitted from the Didact’s ship, scanning the station. He seemed unfazed by his sudden loss of Phantoms. Of course he didn’t - he seemed like one of those high and mighty types, who didn’t give a rat’s ass about his underlings. Even if they did worship him like a god. If anything, that just made BTS hate him more.  
The huge Forerunner ship was hovering beyond the station, content to watch its helpless residents be slaughtered by the Covenant. Expendable. The Covenant were expendable. The Didact could’ve sent his Prometheans (maybe he would later) but for now, he was content with letting the aliens do the dirty work.  
 _Why does everyone in this damn galaxy seem to have a reason to hate humanity?_ That was a question the tiger doubted he’d ever get an answer to.  
He wheeled the Broadsword around, shooting down a Phantom that had been injured in the calamity. He spotted movement on the surface of the station, and the Onager cannons installed along defensive points on its structure started firing.  
“Yea!” he wheeled his Broadsword out of the way, letting the cannons scatter the Phantoms. “That’ll show ‘em!”  
He chased down a smoking Phantom and destroyed it. “Dr. Tillson! How is the evacuation going?”  
“We’ve issued the final orders,” the doctor’s voice replied. “Once clear, we are going to destroy the station.”  
“You better move quick,” BTS advised, noticing the Didact’s ship start to move. “The big ship’s coming.”  
Shots glazed past his right wing; a Phantom was chasing him. He rolled the ship and dove, trying to loop behind his pursuer. He reached to spread a supercloak around the Broadsword, and piercing pain spiked in his skull, like someone had stabbed him. He snarled in pain, losing control of his craft again. Plasma shots peppered his hull, and his shields depleted. Hastily regaining control, he swung away, putting down a burst of speed. Another Phantom came at him from the side, and he quickly ascended, the enemy ship passing under him. His pursuer was momentarily confounded, slowing to avoid a collision with his comrade.  
 _Whew. That was lucky._ Either of those Phantoms could have shot him down without his shields; thank goodness the Covenant pilots were nowhere near as skilled as those aboard High Charity. They fought with each other over who got the kill, chasing the specter of “honor” as they saw it.  
“This Jul ‘Mdama guy really did NOT get the cream of the crop,” the tiger chuckled to himself. “Sucks for him.”  
He sensed an incoming communication from Cortana. “We need your help down here, BTS,” she told him. “The Covenant have found the Composer.”  
“Send me your location,” BTS replied, ears flattening against his head. “I’m on my way.”  
He received the coordinates and wheeled his ship back around, heading for the station. The airspace around was relatively clear, the Phantoms driven back by the station’s defenses. The Onager cannons identified him as a friendly and allowed him to approach (thank goodness). He flew into the closest bay possible; unfortunately, it was overtaken with Covenant. Unfortunate for the Covenant, that was.  
“Eat shit!” the tiger roared, firing his autocannons at the infantry. They scattered from the descent of his ship, those too slow to do so becoming Swiss cheese. The tiger had a bit of a hard landing, but besides that (and the lack of a seat), the Broadsword was mostly undamaged. Not that its original owner would ever see it again, since the station was rigged to blow.  
BTS pushed the cockpit open and jumped out, his energy turret redeploying over his shoulder again. Disregarding most of the Covenant within the hangar, he charged up the stairs to the exit door and ran through it, throwing anyone unfortunate enough to be in his path into the nearest wall. His claws sliced through flesh and bone, and he felt energy return to his limbs as the effort required to telepathically fly the Broadsword disappeared.   
The run to the Composure was a short one. The Forerunner device was housed in an atrium within the station, and it was much bigger than BTS had realized. When he finally reached the cavern, shaking blue blood from his claws, he was momentarily awestruck.  
“Well, shit,” he said, staring up at the giant, glowing artifact. “This should be interesting.” The humans must have needed more than a forklift to move the thing.  
Angry Covenant shrieks alerted him to the location of the Chief, along with the large, metal machine stomping furiously across the scene. To be fair, any old person could have been piloting the mechsuit, but in this day and age? Definitely the Chief in there.  
There were Covenant everywhere; Ghosts, Wraiths, and as the tiger watched, Banshees entered the airspace. The station’s defenses were head-spinningly outnumbered.   
The tiger jumped into the air, pouncing on a low-flying Banshee. He knocked it sideways and ripped its wing off, jumping away from the wreckage. A glob of plasma came hurtling towards him, and he scuttled away from the advancing Wraith. His energy turret fired back at the Wraith, almost as if it had a mind of its own - which it didn’t, the tiger was just good at multitasking.  
“These guys are everywhere!” he yelled to Cortana. He didn’t get a reply, making his heart drop for a moment, but when he looked up, the Chief-powered Mantis was still stomping around in one piece.  
A burst of strange, garbled not-quite-sounds brushed past his mind. He winced, knowing its source.  
 _She’s getting bad. We’re running out of time._  
“We’ve lost contact with Dr. Tillson,” the AI lady said, as if nothing had happened. “She has the warhead.”  
“Go find her,” BTS ordered. “I’ll deal with the rest of the caboodle down here.”  
He swung around behind the Wraith, running towards it faster than it could react. He wrapped his arms around the mortar’s mount, slicing the Sangheili pilot across the top of his head. The alien’s shields flared and he turned, a mixture of shock and anger on his face. BTS punched him with all his might, shattering his shields and snapping his neck. Up front, the gunner turned around in shock, uttering a string of curses.  
The tiger threw the corpse of the pilot off the Wraith. Infantry plasma shots splattered against his flank; his energy turret rotated on his back and killed the offending Kig-Yar. The Sangheili gunner was reaching for his own weapon, so the tiger darted around the mortar and headbutted the gunner clear off the Wraith. The Covenant tank was open for business!  
Grinning, BTS stuck himself the best he could into the cockpit. Even in a seat designed for a Sangheili, he was partially out in the open for anyone to shoot at. At least he could get his paws on the controls and use them manually. He turned, scattering a group of Unggoy with a plasma blast.  
Damn, the tank was slow. But he would do what he could. The Wraith made up for its crawling speed with deadly power and thick armor, though the latter was rapidly getting degraded by Banshee and Ghost fire. The smaller, more maneuverable vehicles outclassed the tank without its gunner. The tiger’s energy turret was good for handling infantry, but was slow on taking out other vehicles.  
“Speedy bastard!” BTS yelled, frustrated. A Ghost zoomed by him, peppering him and his tank with plasma. “Speedy piece of purple garbage!”  
He sensed a large energy fluctuation outside of the station, and the entire ceiling of the atrium ripped off like paper, exposing them to a terrifying view of the Didact’s ship. A few of the Banshees still darting around got sucked out into space; a crane fell from the wall and smashed into an elevator. The Covenant was momentarily stunned; apparently, they weren’t expecting this. They stared up into the orange-lit sky with awe, at the bits of metal and rebar waving around on the edge of space, like a jagged picture frame for the Forerunner ship.  
“He doesn’t care about yooooooooooooooou!” BTS howled, driving the Wraith while his energy turret fired over his shoulder at infantry targets. “You’re expendable!”  
He doubted they really cared, though. Sacrifice in the name of their cruel god.  
The Composer was surrounded by orange light; after a moment, it broke from the ground and started to ascend like it weighed nothing.  
BTS was aghast. “He’s stealing the Composer!” he yelled at both Cortana and Dr. Tillson.  
“We’re trying to find the doctor,” Cortana replied, sounding hysteric. “I can’t believe this is happening…”  
“I’m coming to you,” the tiger decided. “There’s nothing more I can do here.”  
He hated to admit it, but they’d failed. After all their effort, all their fighting, and yelling, and running, they’d failed. Not even he could wrestle the Composer away from the Didact now.  
The tiger angrily plowed through a group of fleeing Unggoy, driving the Wraith up to the elevator the Chief had taken. It was the one the crane had fallen on, shattering a window. BTS jumped from the tank, grabbed the windowsill, and hauled himself into the elevator. The doors opened, admitting him out of the wreck of the atrium.  
The hallways were surprisingly empty of enemies, and not a human was to be seen, except for the dead ones.  
“You need to get out of here,” BTS repeated across his connection to Tillson as he ran down the hallway. Once again, he got no reply; he ground his teeth together. Something had cut their communications, or otherwise the doctor was dead.  
 _That thing’s a weapon. We’re all going to be dead momentarily!_  
He reached his mind out, sensing the station’s intercom system. He plugged himself into it, and yelled, “The Didact’s taken the Composer. Get the hell out of here! Run! Beat it! Launch the shuttles! There ain’t much time left!”  
He had to find the others. He ended his angry intercom message and put on another burst of speed. He spotted the Chief at a door, and caught up to him.   
“Good job not panicking everyone,” the Spartan said sarcastically. “What the hell were you thinking, getting on the intercom like that?” He gestured angrily, waving an upturned hand at the tiger.  
“They need to realize the gravity of this situation,” the tiger replied in a growl, red eyes flaring. “Something tells me they still haven’t quite grasped it.”  
The Chief shook his head and opened the door he was in front of. He and the tiger stepped through the door, entering a room where a group of scientists was frantically running between stations, probably trying to figure out what to do. Dr. Tillson was among them.  
She spotted them and turned. “How could he have taken the Composer?” she asked, aghast.  
“He did,” BTS growled. “I suggest you stop asking questions and start running.”  
“Get these people to the evac centers,” the Chief reworded in a less-angry manner. “Tap the flight deck. Find us something that can carry a payload.”  
“Wait, something’s happening,” Dr. Tillson said, looking out the glass in the front of the room. The Didact’s ship was coming to line with them, and the Composer was surrounded by glowing light.  
“Cortana, can you access the station's defense systems?” the Chief asked.  
BTS turned to the scientists. “Get out of here.” Most of them didn’t move, transfixed at the sight of the massive ship.  
“WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING?” the tiger roared, making them jump. The scientists devolved into panic again, fleeing for the doorways. The tiger shouldered his way up to one of the stations and put his paw on it, entering the station’s systems.  
“Defenses are not responding!” Cortana reported.  
“The Didact’s jammed the systems!” BTS agreed. He switched over to the monitor systems for the evac shuttles; one of the shuttles from Bay 7 was already gone to safety, and another from Bay 6 had just left. There were other shuttles in Bay 7 with passengers aboard.  
“Bay 7, you are launching,” he said over the comms. “All personnel still aboard the station, head for Bay 6.” He forced his mind into the launch controls, and ejected the rest of the shuttles from Bay 7. One of them was only half-full, but he knew if he waited any longer, it would become empty.  
He lifted his head, locking eyes with the glowing Composer. The people left on the station weren’t going to make it to Bay 6 in time. He could yell and roar at them all he wanted, but they weren’t going to make it in time.  
 _I did everything I could. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more._  
~


	23. 3.22: This Isn't Over Yet

3.22: This Isn’t Over Yet

The Composer fired, an orange beam of light piercing the station, through windows and walls and doors. BTS staggered, feeling like he had been hit in the chest with a car-sized sledgehammer. Energy splattered against his telepathic shielding, trying to find a way through. He threw his own energy against it, and repulsed it from his mind.  
The people around him were screaming. The few scientists who were left, including Dr. Tillson, were flaking into bits of orange light, layers of themselves being peeled away and converted into data. BTS saw skin vanish, then muscles and organs, leaving behind for only a moment a skeleton, looking just as shocked as it had been when the skin had been over it. The Chief somewhat-dramatically stumbled to the ground, reaching for the dissolving Dr. Tillson before falling on his face and lying still.  
Slowly, the tiger dropped to all fours. He was surrounded by piles of ash. His head was spinning from the effort it took, keeping the Composure out of his mind. His vision wasn’t normal; things were slightly double. The piles of ash were slightly double. The people had been vaporized.  
He had seen where they had gone to, though. Those little bits of data flaking away were being absorbed into the glowing maw of the Composer. Those alive on the station just moments before had been conscripted into the Didact’s Promethean army. Leaving behind nothing but piles of ash.  
 _He took the Covenant left aboard too._ The tiger’s tail twitched angrily and he shook his head, teeth grinding together. _When I get my paws on that guy, I’m going to rip his face off._  
But, somehow, he couldn’t drum up the rushing rage that so often ran through his body. He felt heavy and tired. His rear plunked onto the ground without him even thinking that much about it. For maybe a minute, he couldn’t even build up the energy to speak.  
What...what could they possibly do now?  
“That bastard…” he finally repeated out loud, a quiet hiss. “I’m going to kill him for this.”  
He looked to his left, at Cortana’s pedestal. She was sitting down as well, head bowed so her face was hidden. She looked absolutely miserable.  
“Cortana?” the tiger said quietly, a bit nervously. The AI didn’t move.  
“This...this isn’t your fault,” he continued cautiously, not sure what she was most upset about. “I doubt the station’s defenses could have blocked that. I sure couldn’t have.”  
“They’re gone,” she replied at barely-audible volume. “All of them. I heard them go.”  
BTS’s lips curled away from his teeth instinctively, imagining the horror of experiencing the souls of those people being sucked into oblivion. His tail lashed angrily, scattering one of the ash piles by accident.  
“We’ll make him pay for this,” he vowed. “Once Blue hears of what he has done, she will destroy him. That is, if I don’t get to him first.”  
“Once Blue hears,” Cortana said sadly. “But she hasn’t yet, has she? But you still keep saying it.”  
BTS pinned his ears back, that little ball of fear appearing in his stomach again, the same one that showed up every time he thought about his lack of contact with the draconic Ascendant. “She’s still out of range of my telepathy, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s somewhere that other methods of communication can’t get to,” he reasoned, trying to disperse the fear. “But she won’t be out there forever! I gotta have faith, don’t I?”  
“It’s going to be too late,” the AI muttered miserably. “We can’t rely on someone who’s been absent for months, no, years, to suddenly show up and save us.”  
“Then we’ll save ourselves!” BTS replied strongly. “We survived four years on a wrecked ship. We took over a Covenant cruiser together. We survived Requiem. We destroyed a gravity well by flying a Lich into it, for goodness sakes. I’d have a hard time finding something else we can’t pull off.”  
The AI was silent. BTS looked away, not knowing what else to say.  
“I won’t say it’s going to be fine,” he said after a while. “But it’s not over yet. As long as I’ve got life in me, it’s not over.”  
Cortana looked up. “What about John?” she asked.  
It took BTS a moment to figure out she was talking about the Chief (well, who the hell else would she be talking about?). He looked sideways at the Spartan, who was still laying on his face, motionless.  
“I was present when the Librarian transformed him,” he said. “His mind is blocked from the Composer.” He smiled a little, hoping some bravado could cheer the sad AI up. “I dare to say Blue would be able to tell you exactly what kind of telepathic blocks she implicated. Would be a nice thing to know, she may even be able to conjure some sort of protection against the Composer from it.”  
Cortana nodded absentmindedly. “I think he was beginning to get a little irritated with us...the Chief, I mean.”  
BTS looked down at the ground, rubbing one of his forepaws against the back of his other leg. “Yeah...I guess we haven’t been the best teammates, getting into arguments about what to do and how to do it all the time.” He dropped his head further, putting his ears back. “I should be nicer. But the sarcasm and whatever just spill out of my mouth without me thinking about them.”  
“Nobody’s perfect,” Cortana replied, looking over at him. “This whole deal...well, it’s the first really difficult thing we’ve had to go through together.” She smiled a bit, maybe even laughed faintly. “We spent four, uneventful years on the wreck of a ship together. Things weren’t necessarily easily, but they were simple. And it was easy to get along then.”  
The tiger nodded. “Yeah...but the Chief is right to be annoyed with me. And you too, you’ve got the right to be annoyed with me, after everything I’ve said and done.”  
Cortana shook her head. “BTS, it’s alright. While you’ve certainly done a good job getting on my nerves at times, you’ve also been protecting the Chief and I with all your strength.” She smiled again. “I’m grateful for that.”  
BTS lifted his head, grinning sheepishly. “Well, how could I ever abandon my shipwreck friends? Heck, I’ve known you for four years now. And I’ve kinda known the Chief for that long too...just never got to talk to him until now.”  
“We don’t have time to be sitting around, then,” Cortana said, sounding worn but determined. “The Didact will not wait to strike again, and we need to be ready to stop him.”  
BTS nodded and swished his tail across the floor, lifting the pointed tip and tapping the Spartan’s helmet with it. “Wakey wakey, Mr. Chief sir. We’ve got work to do.”  
The Spartan twitched and looked up groggily. BTS waved at him, moving his tail away.   
“Are you okay?” Cortana asked worriedly.  
The Chief didn’t reply; he seemed absorbed in observing the carnage around him. He got up onto one knee, and slowly stood up.  
“We need to move,” he finally said, taking a step towards the door. But then he stopped, as if he was running into the same mental block of _what-the-hell-just-happened/what-the-hell-do-we-do-now_ that BTS had just felt. But he wasn’t stuck there for long.  
Cortana had stood up, and was interacting with the hologram again. “I’m spinning up a Broadsword in hangar C-11. I hope someone has a bright idea on what we’re going to do next.”  
“Cortana,” the Chief said carefully. He could tell she was shaken up about something.  
The AI was silent for a moment. Then, “They'll pair you with another AI. Maybe even another Cortana model if Halsey lets them.”  
“That’s not going to happen,” the Chief replied sternly.  
“I second that notion,” BTS agreed. “Come on, shipwreck friend, we don’t have much time. Save the universe first, deal with everything else later.”  
Cortana nodded, and the Chief removed her data chip from the pedestal. BTS followed the Spartan out of the door, careful not to step in any of the piles of ash. Looking at them made his nanocomposite hide crawl.  
They hustled down to C-11, to where the Broadsword was being prepped. BTS remembered his old Broadsword momentarily, but opted against it. His mind was beginning to fatigue; having to telepathically control the ship would take more of his energy than just regular flying would.  
He ran out to the edge of the hangar as the Chief hopped into the ship; he could see the bulk of the Didact’s ship hovering not too far away from the station. The sight made him bare his teeth threateningly.  
The Broadsword flew by over his head; he jumped into the air and followed it, wings unfolded from his back. As soon as he entered the vacuum of space, he increased his speed, chasing after the other ship. The ship was damn fast, faster that he had realized. Driving versus chasing sure changed one’s perception.  
The Didact’s ship was moving away, unaware of its pursuers. The Broadsword was closing in fast.  
A slipspace portal appeared in front of the big ship. If the Didact got through before they could catch up, it would become a guessing game to find his next location. Probably not that difficult of a guessing game, but one just the same.  
The Broadsword boosted after the Forerunner ship. BTS shrugged and followed it; hopefully the Chief had a good idea on how to approach the ship without being noticed.  
The Broadsword dipped down, and flew close to the Didact’s ship. Blue energy appeared around the larger ship, passing over their heads. The ship’s shields would protect them while in slipspace, like they had done before.  
The tiger boosted and came to parallel with the Broadsword, beyond the tip of its right wing. He and the Chief briefly exchanged glances, and BTS nodded respectfully before dropping back to take a wingman position.  
The edge of the portal passed overhead, and BTS looked away, knowing he’d probably get distracted by how pretty slipspace was if he looked at it. And seeing how portions of the Didact’s ship were starting to move aggressively, he didn’t want that to happen right now.  
He wished he could read minds, like Blue, to check on what the Didact was doing. The asshole was probably strutting around his ship, thinking he’d done such a good job stealing the Composure and adding to his Promethean army.  
“I’ve locked onto his transmissions,” Cortana’s crackly voice sounded in his mind. “Follow us there.”  
“Rodger dodger,” BTS replied. “Lead on.”  
The Broadsword and tiger descended into a chasm in the ship’s hull that reminded BTS a little too much of the Death Star, except the walls were moving around them, trying to block their path. Orange bursts of ionized particles ripped across the space; BTS rolled away from them, spotting their source. The ship was outfitted with anti-aircraft defensive weapons, and from the way they were acting, they seemed to be autonomous.  
A gate closed in front of them; BTS spotted the Broadsword firing at an orange beacon. Upon impact, the destruction of the beacon reopened the gate.  
 _Seems like a strange and pointless defense system, but ok._ BTS followed the aircraft through the gate, ducking another round of anti-air fire.  
Suddenly, the slipspace-streaked sky around them returned to normal, so unexpected that BTS almost forgot to dodge the anti-air guns. They were at their destination already? The Didact’s ship had passed through slipspace at an incredible speed!  
Sensation filled the tiger’s mind, and suddenly he realized he could feel his telepathic connections again. There was one, to Aethon, to the white coreship, flooding full of his fusion-powered energy and warmth as the connection reestablished. And then the other, made of pure, telepathic energy that glowed so bright in his mind, like a thread made of light.  
 _BLUE!_ He roared down his connection to her, overjoyed to feel shock and surprise flood back his way. She was alive!  
 _Stars, BTS, is that really you?_ She asked. _Where are you?_  
“At current velocity, hostile will achieve Earth orbit in approximately 4 minutes!” Cortana yelled in his head.  
 _Four minutes away from Earth orbit,_ he replied to Blue. _We just exited slipspace. We’ve got a huge problem incoming!  
We’re on our way, _Blue said. Her voice was determined, and BTS could tell she was communicating with other people. _But please tell me what the hell is going on! And where have you been?  
We accidentally woke up a sleeping Forerunner, and he’s pissed at humanity, _BTS explained, dodging more of the orange particles. _He has a weapon called the Composer that can turn organic beings into data. He uses the data to build these robot constructs called Prometheans.  
Any way to counteract the effects? _Blue asked.  
 _My telepathic shield stopped it, and the Chief got some sort of gene activated that makes him immune too. Oh yeah, the Chief’s with me. Cortana too, but she’s in a bad way,_ the tiger explained.  
Blue was silent for a moment. _What are his defenses like?  
Really big ship. Top of the line Forerunner technology, I’d say. Here, take a look. _BTS sent over his current sensory inputs to her, so she could get an idea of the energies and setup of the ship. She seemed a bit shocked.  
 _Indeed,_ she agreed. _A lot of hardlight. Reconstructive abilities. I can sense the Prometheans as well; there are millions of them.  
Well, shit,_ BTS could have estimated what else was hiding out on the ship, but his number would not have been that high.  
 _What’s your plan?_ Blue asked. _I assume you have one.  
We have a Broadsword with a nuclear payload large enough to destroy the Composer, _the tiger reported. _We’re going to get inside and detonate it._ He followed the Broadsword through some tight tunnels and another set of gates, barely making it through the last one.  
 _We’ll be there soon. Just keep me updated on your status,_ Blue ordered. _Fly well.  
Rodger dodger,_ BTS said, hiding his nerves. He turned his attention back to Cortana.  
 _Blue’s coming,_ he told her.  
 _Good. Fleetcom is engaging,_ she replied. _We need to get inside._  
They flew through another tunnel, the Broadsword swerving widely to dodge a round of anti-air fire. BTS flew past the guns, hitting one of them with a barrage of energy from his turret. It was blasted apart, but quickly reformed.  
“Reconstructive properties, my ass!” he grumbled angrily. That really didn’t seem fair.  
He spotted what appeared to be a series of mobile lasers ahead, prompting him to wonder why anyone would bother with such a thing while still leaving ways for an enemy craft to fly through. Either the Didact was very stupid about his ship architecture, or he just liked to mess with people.   
They entered a tunnel beyond the laser gates, and the walls started to close in around them. The Broadsword boosted, and BTS followed, increasing his own speed. He pulled closer to the ship as their space was rapidly removed. He thought he saw sparks fly off the tip of the Broadsword’s wing as it exited the collapsing tunnel, but he knew he was just imagining it, since a real impact like that would rip the whole wing off. The walls shut angrily behind them, closing off their path to any ways but around and up.  
This new zone was circular, edged by four large anti-air cannons. There was an opening in the center, which BTS recognized as the firing point for the Composer. Said hole, however, closed just as they reached the arena.  
“Oi!” BTS cursed. “That was our way in!”  
He looked up. Approaching through the darkness of space were many UNSC ships, including Infinity.  
 _Hell, they’re going to get shredded._ He knew this to be true. The unshielded ships would be no match for Forerunner-grade technology of this magnitude.  
 _We have to clear these guns to give Infinity a clear shot at the hull,_ Cortana told him. _They’ll get us in.  
Rodger dodger, _he replied, and peeled off from the Broadsword. The ship flew past a beacon in the center of the arena, destroying it. The action removed a laser grid that had been across the floor, and removed defensive structures from around the power cores of the four cannons.  
The tiger flew at the first core, and fired a strong beam of energy into it. The core exploded, and the cannon followed, falling into pieces. BTS flew through the core’s housing, eyes already on the second one.  
Another cannon went down, the Broadsword on the other side of the arena, flying in the opposite direction of the tiger. He boosted, taking out the third cannon, and put his eyes on the last one.  
 _Best let the Chief take care of it,_ he decided, and peeled off course. The Broadsword flew into the core’s housing, and the last cannon went down.  
The tiger looked to the sky. Infinity was lining up, and as he watched, the ship’s twin fore battery lit up, and fired bright beams of light at the enemy ship. The energy struck home, punching a neat hole in the armor of the Didact’s ship. The Broadsword curved around and dove into the hole. BTS followed suite.  
 _We’ve punched through the Didact’s hull,_ he told Blue. _We’re going in._  
He didn’t get a reply, but sensed a familiar wash of energy. It was like getting someone’s answering machine, when they couldn’t answer telepathic calls because they were travelling through another dimension.  
Blue was coming.  
~


	24. 3.23: The Didact's Ship is Unfair

3.23: The Didact’s Ship is Unfair

Blue was coming. She was alive and she was going to help them stop the Didact. But there wasn’t any time to focus on the joy of the reunion - there would be nothing worth celebrating if the Didact wasn’t stopped.  
BTS tailed close to the Broadsword, and realized the walls were closing in on them again. Pieces of hull were thrusting out at them, forcing the two fliers to dodge haphazardly around. Their entryway into the Didact’s ship was rapidly healing shut.  
 _This isn’t going to end well!_ BTS hissed. He pinned his ears back against his head, conscious of how close the walls around them were. Gritting his teeth, he boosted and slammed into the back of the Broadsword, pushing it forwards just a tiny bit more.  
The walls crushed the craft’s wings, and it plummeted, sparks flying from the wreck, the tiger clinging to its top. They landed in a crunch of metal, BTS bouncing off the top of the wreck and landing on the ground in front of it. He shook his head woozily, sitting on his rear with his paws splayed out like he was a cat in a cartoon. Once he got enough stars out of his eyes to think clearly, he peered over his shoulder, wincing.  
The Broadsword was a twisted wreck, but at least the Chief seemed quite alright. He was removing the warhead from the craft’s rocket unworriedly.  
“I hate this ship,” BTS muttered, picking himself up. “I hate this damn, no-good, unfair, self-healing ship.”  
“What now?” Cortana asked, ignoring his ramble.  
The Chief attached the warhead to the back of his armor. “Plan B.”  
“Nothing can ever be easy, can it?” the tiger grumbled darkly.  
He followed the Spartan down a tunnel, half expecting the walls to close on them again, smushing them like bugs. He also couldn’t help but notice that the nuclear warhead made the Chief look like he was wearing some sort of super-explosive fanny pack (or at least it looked like that to him). Despite himself, he chuckled at the thought. And as expected, he was ignored.  
They entered into another room, and BTS spotted his mortal enemies, the Promethean flying ring bastards. He reared up, unsheathing his claws. Time to get some justice!  
The tiger tore through the first enemy he encountered, knocking it away from the turret it was building. Metal splintered under his claws, filling him with vicious satisfaction. He jumped forwards, knocking another foe against the wall, shattering it.  
A door at the end of the room opened; there was a weapons stand next to it, with Boltshots and Lightrifles. The Chief took one of the latter, and after a moment of thought, so did BTS.  
“Where reason does not stop you, perhaps force can at least delay you,” the Didact’s voice rang throughout the ship.  
“Hey! I can finally hear him!” BTS cheered. “Hey, asshole! Got anything to say to me?” He got no reply, and looked down in disappointment.  
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll think of something to insult you with,” Cortana said squeakily.  
There was a Knight up ahead, glaring at them. BTS lifted his Lightrifle, aiming at the construct’s head.  
 _These could be the scientists from Ivanoff Station.  
...  
They aren’t them anymore. _  
He pulled the trigger.  
A second Knight came running from the right after the first one died; it crouched over and hatched one of the flying bastards from its back, a process that made BTS cringe for some reason. It was like the Knight had just popped out a baby or something, and it just wasn’t sitting right with him. However, brutally murdering said Knight and said flying bastard baby he had no problem with.  
They moved through the next door, entering yet another very generic-looking room. More flyers were floating around, though they proved not much in the way of resistance, not against the tiger’s deep hatred for them.  
 _I love cannon fodder,_ he thought fondly. _So fun to destroy._  
The Chief walked through the door on the left of the room and jumped down what looked kind of like an elevator shaft; his descent appeared to be slowed by something, so BTS followed. They entered another tunnel, leaving the lift behind.  
“I detected an energy signature up ahead. I think it's a transit system like on Requiem,” Cortana said. “Is Blue here yet?”  
“She’s traveling,” BTS replied. “She said she’d be here soon.”  
“Better be soon enough,” the AI replied quietly.  
 _Yeah really,_ BTS wondered. “She must be decently nearby to get here in time via slipspace. Or maybe she’s coming with Aethon so she can use hyperspace,” he said aloud. “Yeah, that must be it.”  
They walked through a door, entering into a large room filled with multiple, spaced-out platforms. There were no bridges spanning between the spires, but there was a console on the platform, which the Chief plugged Cortana’s data chip into. The AI’s avatar appeared momentarily, and then faded into a flickering, bluish orb.  
“Is this the secret you've kept from me? This... evolved ancilla?” the Didact’s voice echoed through the chamber.  
“Didact knows I'm in the system. Hurry! Go!” Cortana’s voice crackled from the console.  
A portal popped up in the middle of the platform, and the Chief ran through. BTS gritted his teeth and jumped after him, trying his best to ignore the disorientation it caused him, which, mixed with his slowly-building exhaustion, was beginning to edge onto a serious headache.  
They entered a hallway, and BTS immediately sensed the weak signatures of the cannon-fodder Crawlers. One came bounding over the edge of the ramp, and received a headshot as a reward. The Chief ran up the platform; BTS moved around him and lunged at another Crawler, crushing it under his paw. A portal appeared at the end of the room, their way onward.  
It was eerily quiet; BTS had expected the Didact to have something else to say. Seems he didn’t, or at least he had nothing to say to the tiger. He gripped his Lightrifle a little tighter, anyway.  
The Chief shot the last of the Crawlers and jumped through the portal, BTS hot on his heels. They entered back into the vast room, this time on another, larger platform with several portal structures. Knights were patrolling the area, and the nearest few shrieked upon seeing them, alerting the rest of the group.  
There was no time to waste!  
BTS broadsided one of the Knights, teeth cutting into the joint of its shoulder. He forced it to fall onto its own sword arm, rendering the close-combat weapon useless. He thrashed his head back and forth, while beating the construct’s shield with his hind claws. Its shields broke and he ripped its arm right off; the Knight dissolved into orange light as he shot it in the head with his Lightrifle.  
The tiger removed the weapon, a Scattershot, from the disembodied arm. Another Knight charged him, shrieking. He turned and shot it point-blank with the Scattershot, stunning it. Another shot finished it off.   
The arena echoed with the sounds of gunfire and enraged Prometheans. The tiger turned, holding the Scattershot in his left paw and his Lightrifle in the right. Another Knight hissed at him from next to an active portal, up higher on the platform. He aimed down the Lightrifle, pushing it away from the portal.  
“Up here!” he yelled across to the Chief, who was dealing with more of those obnoxious flyers. The Spartan finished the last of them off and came running over, shooting at the Knight.  
BTS jumped vertically, going from the ground platform to the portal. The Knight blocked his path, shooting at him. He tanked the shots and fired back with the Scattershot. The Knight stumbled, and fell as the Chief ran up the ramp to the platform, shooting at it from another side. As soon as the bugger was gone, BTS jumped through the portal, the Chief after him.  
They ended up in another random room, and the tiger’s interest was immediately caught as he noticed a set of stasis beams holding various weapons, including a gravity hammer. It was cool, but wasn’t where they were supposed to be.  
The Chief discarded his emptying weapons and grabbed a (how’d human weapons get here?) battle rifle and a carbine from one of the beams. BTS, feeling a little like a giddy child, pointed at the gravity hammer.  
“Can I have that?” he said hopefully. “I’ve never used one before.”  
“Sure,” the Chief replied. “Just don’t swing it near me, ok?”  
The tiger grinned gleefully, stuffing the Scattershot and Lightrifle into his chest cavity. It was a tight squeeze, but he didn’t want to leave anything behind. He took up the gravity hammer, relishing in its heavy, destructive weight.  
“Cortana’s having trouble fighting off the Didact and finding the Composer at the same time,” the Spartana said. “You think you could help her?”  
“If we can find a safe console, then yes,” BTS replied. “But I can’t stay there. I have to move with you.”  
The Chief nodded and turned away, walking through the next portal. BTS hefted his hammer, chuckling, and followed him.  
They reappeared in the same room they’d come from; there was a Knight with its back turned a few feet away. BTS lunged, swinging the hammer down on the construct’s head. It shattered violently into the most pleasing series of orange sparks with a metallic clang.  
“Hell yeah!” BTS cheered. “Get one-shot, you bug-jointed bastard!”  
“Far side,” the Chief said, pointing out where another portal had appeared. BTS nodded, looking out over the platform to their target.  
A squad of Crawlers came charging up the ramp; the tiger destroyed all of them with a clean sweep of his hammer. “It’s a mess down there, Chief. Care for a ride?”  
The Spartan nodded. BTS knelt, switching the hammer to one paw. The Chief jumped onto his back, grabbing his shoulders. The tiger’s wings extended and he pushed himself from the ground, standing on three legs. He grunted, looking at the gravity hammer, which was way too ungainly to run with. He locked his teeth around the haft, holding it securely in his jaws.  
“Hold on,” he advised, voice a bit muffled, and leapt forwards. He ran off the edge of the platform, eliciting shrieks from the baddies below him. He soared over their heads, aiming for the portal.  
 _Oh shit!_ He realized, halfway through the jump, that the hammer, held in his mouth, wasn’t going to fit through the portal. He quickly grabbed the haft from his mouth and held it parallel to his body, paws tucked close to his chest. He wasn’t a moment too soon; they plunged through the portal just as he rearranged his grip on the thing.  
 _I hope the Chief ducked._  
They reappeared on the other side; BTS removed one paw from the hammer and planted it in front of himself, sticking a bit of a rough landing, skidding forwards from all his momentum. Thankfully, the Chief was still on his back, and hadn’t gotten clotheslined by the portal’s frame. That would’ve been awkward.  
The Spartan jumped off his back, and the tiger stood up again, holding the hammer in both paws. They were in a long hallway, with no way to go but forwards.  
“The Didact’s cloaking the Composer from Cortana,” the Chief said.  
“Find me a console, I can help,” BTS pressed. “We’ve got no time to waste.”  
Prometheans appeared in front of them, within the room the hall led too. BTS’ eyes chose just that moment to spot a console just beyond them. Bingo!  
“There’s a console behind them,” he pointed out. “Once we clear them out, I can access it safely.”  
The Chief nodded. “Let’s go.”  
BTS hefted the hammer and charged, roaring. He swung it into the first Knight he encountered, disregarding the shots bouncing off his shields. The sound of the construct disintegrating was music to his ears. He swung the hammer up, smashing a flying foe from the sky. Crawlers were crushed beneath his feet; the Chief rained bullet death on them from behind cover. All they needed was some ripping guitar music, and the scene would be perfect.  
In a short time, the room was clear. BTS rushed to the console, kneeling down next to it. He put his paw onto it, and entered the digital realm.  
Immediately, he was bombarded with information, whatever was available moving through the ship’s systems. Mostly useless stuff, nomenclature and status reports. The ship’s name was like a large banner, hanging over the digital landscape forming in BTS’s mind.  
 _Mantle’s Approach. Fancy._  
He needed to focus on solidifying the digital landscape so he could find Cortana. He concentrated, and the realm of information rearranged around him.  
It was as if he was standing within a massive labyrinth, one that weaved in and out and through itself. Information was moving through the labyrinth, glowing spheres of light. Sometimes walls kept him in; other times, his path was paralleled by deep pits, leading to other parts of the system. Gates blocked his path to many of the halls, but he cut through them with his claws.  
 _Where is she?_  
His senses felt great energy somewhere within; he cut towards it, crossing between halls and paths. Around the corner, over a great expanse of murky black, as if someone had cast a cloak over the realm, was a glowing sphere of blue light, flickering with red streaks. It moved erratically, and BTS soon came to see why; a massive form was stalking the halls, glowing orange, smoky wisps of color rising from it. Searching, it looked like.  
BTS looked down at his own paws. He didn’t have any weapons, but he still felt strong. His form was solid, edges clear and defined. He had power in the digital realm.  
The blue orb seemed to notice him, and zipped over. Information passed between them silently; the orb rose upwards and glowed a little; through her BTS saw a faint glimpse of the outside. But his eyes passed right over it, locking onto the orange figure nearby.  
He exchanged looks with the orb, and nodded.  
They charged the orange apparition, which turned to face them. Its face drew up into an ugly sneer, and it lifted a hand. BTS lowered his head and rammed the figure in the abdomen, doubling it over. The force sent it skittering off the edge of the walkway, shrieking soundlessly. Blue lines appeared above the chasm, crisscrossing the space and trapping the figure below them. Around them, the murkiness began to fade. BTS turned, looked up, focusing on the light above him, and jumped.  
He shot back into his own body, red eyes snapping open. “We locked the Didact out of the system,” he said. “He’ll be back, though.”  
Cortana reappeared above the console, flickering. BTS took that moment to notice the last few Crawlers skulking about, though the Chief killed them before he could do anything.  
“Oh, we had visitors while I was in there?” the tiger questioned. The Spartan nodded, taking Cortana’s chip from the console.  
“The Composer’s on the other side of that portal,” the AI said, pointing. Down another long hallway, branching off from their current location, was said portal. A couple Crawlers were running about, but a series of beam turrets along the walls were firing at them.  
“Oh, the turrets are our friends now?” BTS questioned, confused.  
“Just these ones,” the Chief replied, and headed down the ramp.  
BTS felt a blip in his mind that could only be one person. _Blue!  
We’re here. _He felt, far beyond him, a great shift in energy as ships entered realspace. Not just one ship, but many.  
 _Is that...an entire fleet?  
Of sorts. All units, engage enemy ships! Keep distance from the flagship._ Blue sent out a series of commands over her telepathic connections to her commanding officers. _Focus on defending the human vessels! Remain defensive and don’t get too close. The flagship is beyond our abilities. Do not waste your lives and your ships upon it._  
Her focus returned to BTS. _We’re coming to you, just give me a moment.  
We need to keep moving,_ the tiger replied. _We can’t stay in one place.  
Whatever is necessary. We will come to your location._  
She broke off. BTS lifted his head, coming to a dead stop in front of the portal. The Chief had already jumped through. Whatever was on the other side...the tiger felt it would be akin to the final boss battle of this entire, freakish adventure.  
 _I’m...I’m ready._  
He jumped through the portal.  
~


	25. 3.24: Final Boss

3.24: Final Boss

The portal put BTS into a small room, door open at one end. The Chief was waiting for him, standing in the doorway. As soon as he saw the tiger was through, he stepped onto a gravity lift that was beyond the threshold.  
The tiger shook his head, wishing it hurt less, and stepped onto the lift. It buoyed him upwards like he was a leaf on a gentle updraft.  
 _Wait, Blue!_ He called out. _The Didact’s got his superweapon aboard and primed, and he’s planning on firing it at Earth. I’ll send you all the information I have about it. He hit the station I was aboard, so I’ve got a close-and-personal analysis of the thing. I don’t know if it can be blocked...but you’d need to stay outside to do it. We’ll handle the situation inside here.  
Interesting, _Blue commented after receiving the information. _What else can this Didact do?  
He’s got telepathic abilities. Like, he’s been speaking in the Chief’s head for a while now. He’s also got some sort of personal kinetic field that grants him telekinesis, even at respectable distances. I mean, it’s not true telekinesis, but you get it.   
Send me all the information you have on him. _  
BTS conveyed all his memories of his encounter of the Didact, all the thoughts, sensations, and feelings, most of which he couldn’t match to personal abilities and powers, since the Forerunner technology used by this guy was so alien to him. Hopefully, Blue could make more sense of it.  
The lift was long, and set them down at the end of another hall. Beyond the ends of the wall, BTS could see the glow of something bright and powerful.  
The Chief was eyeing the gap between them and the next platform. “Any way to get over there?”  
“Conveyor lift, end of the ramp. If we time it right, our momentum should carry us through the low gravity,” Cortana replied, voice wavering and changing pitch. “If not, BTS can carry you.”  
The Chief nodded, and walked forwards. Once up the ramp, he broke into a run, jumped, and sprang off the lift, sailing into the air. He soared away, through a series of rings and into the open chamber.  
 _We’re entering the weapon’s location,_ BTS told Blue. _If we’re lucky, we can disable it and you won’t have to worry about trying to block it._  
He jumped, feeling the conveyor lift grab hold of him and catapult him after the Spartan. The walls fell away from him, and he slowly turned his head from side to side, taking in the strange majesty of the wide open space. The ship was an architectural wonder; it was a shame they needed to destroy it.  
The chamber was moving, working to prime the Composer, which was centered in the space, surrounded by other pieces of architecture.  
“And so, you come at last,” the Didact’s voice echoed around the chamber. BTS may have made it up, but the Forerunner sounded slightly annoyed. Heh, good. They were finally irking him.  
He gripped the gravity hammer angrily. _Time for your justice, asshole._  
The top of the chamber began to part, revealing a view into space. Or rather, a view of Earth within space, which was visible smack in the center of the widening hole. A blue planet covered in places with pearly clouds, and surrounded by numerous human constructions.  
“Aaaaay!” the tiger cheered, seeing Blue’s ships zooming around in the periphery of the hole. They were busy demolishing the Didact’s Covenant friends, who, armed with only Phantoms and Liches, were in the process of being brutally destroyed by larger battlecruisers and ships of the human fleet.  
He sensed a large fluctuation in energy, and a slipspace portal began to form below the platform housing the Composer. The tiger cocked his head, narrowing his eyes.  
 _He’s powering up the weapon,_ he reported to Blue. _It doesn’t take very long to do so._  
He and the Chief landed on a platform, hitting the ground running. The door in front of them almost didn’t open fast enough.  
They halted. The Didact was floating above the central spire, still some distance across an abyss from them. He, and the Composer, were surrounded by an orange shield.  
“The Didact's shielded himself inside the Composer,” Cortana clipped. “The nuke won't do us any good unless we can disable that barrier. Find me a terminal.”  
“Wait, he’s inside the Composer?” BTS asked. “Great, so he’s immune to it too? What more does he have to make him obnoxiously overpowered?”  
The Chief moved forwards to the nearest terminal. “Seeing how you’re literally a sentient tank with telepathic powers, I’m not sure why you’re complaining so much.”  
Cortana appeared above the terminal, flickering almost nauseatingly. I've got to do something you're not going to like,” she said apologetically.  
The avatar bowed her head, and then contorted, screaming in a strange, inhuman voice. Reddish, but otherwise identical, copies of herself peeled off from the original, walking off the sides of the terminal and vanishing. Multiple others appeared, and they all vanished, even the real one.  
BTS flattened his ears, drawing back from the terminal a bit. “Oh shit.”  
The Chief retrieved the chip. “What did you just do?”  
“I ejected my rampant personality spikes into the system,” the AI replied. “If I do that at each of those beams, the copies can overwhelm the Composer's shielding.”  
“Oh boy,” the tiger muttered. “Brilliant, but I can’t help but feel highly disturbed.”  
There was another conveyor lift off to their right, leading to another platform. BTS scanned the area, and sensed another terminal. He ran to the lift and jumped off it, the Chief following him.  
“We got company,” the tiger called, pointing out a Knight as it phased in. “Time to bash some heads!”  
He landed and charged, letting the shots roll off his shields. The Knight disintegrated under his hammer; he ducked into cover to let his shields recharge.  
There were more foes beyond his position, heavy on the side of Knights. The Didact wasn’t messing around, not that he’d been before. Well, BTS liked to think he had been, even if it wasn’t the truth; it made the Forerunner seem more conceited. A fitting attitude for an ancient being bent on destroying an entire species.  
The terminal was to his left, up a wall that would usually be unclimbable. He waved to the Chief and pointed upwards. The Spartan nodded and ran over.  
“We’d have to go through all that mess to get to the ramp,” the tiger said, pointing down to where the majority of the Prometheans were. “I can get us up here.”  
He knelt, and the Chief climbed onto his back. The tiger didn’t even need to use his wings; one jump was enough to get him onto the higher platform. A Knight spun around, shrieking angrily, and received a gravity hammer to the face as a reply.  
There were other foes hanging around; the tiger disregarded them, jumping onto another platform. This one led towards the center of the room, where the shielded orb was, glowing bright orange. Numerous Knights moved to engage them, hissing angrily. The Chief jumped off his back, moving into cover. The tiger copied, going to the other side of the hall. A Knight was there; he kicked it off the edge of the platform and moved forwards, gripping his hammer.  
Another Knight was guarding the terminal; he charged around the corner and killed the thing with a cracking blow to the chest. He kept an ear out for the Chief, who was dealing with a third Knight. He heard the shots, followed by the sound of breaking shields and metallic screeching. After another burst of fire, the screeching stopped.  
The tiger switched the gravity hammer to his left paw and drew the Lightrifle out of his chest cavity, moving to guard the path. “You take care of Cortana, I’ll watch your back,” he said to the Chief.   
A Crawler climbed up the wall to their position, followed by more of the cannon fodder. BTS kept them back with the Lightrifle, saving the hammer for the Knights who were on their way. He could sense their artificial presence, and the energy of their teleportation. One foe phased in, and he shattered its skull, swinging the hammer with one paw. Another appeared to his left, far out of lunging range. He leveled his Lightrifle at it, chasing it back.  
“That's it. It's working!” Multi-Cortanas yelled. The first beam of light travelling to the shielded orb vanished. The Spartan grabbed the AI’s chip and turned to the tiger.  
“Take us to the next terminal,” he ordered.  
BTS knelt. “Gladly.”  
Once the Chief was on his back, he was up and away again, holding the gravity hammer against his chest. He made sure to stay away from the center of the room; he didn’t want to get smacked by the Didact’s telekinesis. His path took him in an arc around to the other side of the room from where the first terminal had been.  
The Didact’s voice echoed around the chamber as the tiger took off. “You humans sought the Didact; you will have him.”  
“Chief, his ship's in range! Once the barrier's down, you need to get the nuke in there fast!” Cortana warned.   
The second platform mirrored the first; BTS flew around and entered through the side, tackling a Knight that was guarding the terminal. More of the baddies came flooding out from behind the pillars, enraged that their foes had come from the opposite direction as expected.  
BTS lunged and swung his hammer at another Knight; the construct dodged the shot and struck back with its hardlight blade, forcing the tiger to retreat, drawing the almost-empty Lightrifle from his chest. The Knight phased away, avoiding return-fire from the Chief.  
BTS used up the last of the Lightrifle ammo in killing a pack of Crawlers and a Watcher (the flying pieces of shit, as named by the information he’d gotten from the ship’s database). He threw the empty gun at another Crawler, knocking it off the platform.  
There was a momentary lull in the onset of enemies; BTS motioned urgently towards the terminal, and moved to place himself between it and any oncoming baddies. The Chief ran behind him and inserted Cortana’s data chip into it.  
The tiger heard another set of Cortana’s inhumane screams, and he grimaced, showing his teeth. The beam of energy passing over their heads was cut off. The sphere around the Composer flickered and went out, exposing their target.  
 _Blue, we’ve got shields down from the weapon. We’re going to destroy it.  
We’re here as a fallback, _she replied. _I’m watching._  
The tiger crouched. “I’ll get us over there, but we’re going to need to avoid his telekinesis. I can keep him away for long enough, maybe.”  
The Chief reached to take Cortana’s chip out of the terminal, but the Didact angrily handwaved, and the terminal vanished. Both BTS and the Chief were knocked back; the tiger saw the Spartan’s shields drain.  
“Cortana!”  
The tiger snarled, dropping to fours and bracing his feet. He only slid back a little, the Didact’s telekinesis seemingly not too strong at this range. At least, not too strong against something that weighted multiple tons.  
“Come on!” he yelled. The Chief regained his feet and jumped onto his back; the two of them were up and away, soaring towards the Didact.  
“The Didact is guaranteed going to be able to remove a nuke from the premises if we just stick it on the floor and leave,” he said. “We’re going to need to get him away from the Composer, just long enough for me to get us out of range.”  
“We can’t leave without Cortana,” the Chief reminded him.  
“Ok, I don’t want to leave without her either, but we might not have a choice,” the tiger argued. A wave of angry Didact telekinesis shot towards him; he rolled evasively. “We have to do what we came here to do. I don’t think she’d be happy if we squandered humanity trying to save her!”  
He rolled again, dodging more of the telekinetic energies. They came fast and unpredictable; he barely dodged them all, saved only by his ability to sense their energies.  
“He’s in the Composer’s beam,” the Chief observed. “Touching that will create the same effect as what happened on Ivanoff Station.”  
“That rules out body-slamming him,” the tiger said, disappointed. “Well, good thing I’ve got a Plan B!”  
He charged, diving at the Didact. The Forerunner turned to face him, putting a hand up. The tiger roared, pushing everything away from around him. And then, he vanished under supercloak. The Didact looked around furiously, unable to locate him once he was cloaked.  
BTS flew directly at the beam, riding the wave of nothingness. At the very last moment, he swerved, reaching out with the gravity hammer. The weapon was long enough; he could wield it without the Chief touching the beam. He swung it into the Didact’s chest as they passed, putting every ounce of energy possible into it. The Forerunner was thrown from the platform, over the abyss. A hardlight bridge appeared, stopping his fall. He bounced and skidded away from them, no longer in contact with the Composer.  
The tiger dropped his supercloak, landing on the bridge between the Didact and the Composer. The Forerunner stood up slowly, visibly tense with rage.  
“You have meddled too much in the workings of those higher than you,” he growled, glaring at them. “You will be destroyed for your crimes, but first, witness your grandest failure.”  
He waved his hand, and the firing apparatus behind them parted. With an electrical crackle, the orange Composer beam shot from it.  
“Not quite,” BTS replied, putting all his hope into the last of his bravado. He looked towards the vastness of space surrounding Earth, the pearly blue planet. “Blue!”  
His red eyes widened, vision sharpening to see every, fine detail. Hidden against the white and blue patterns of Earth was a lone, white ship, speeding towards them. On a direct collision course with the Composer beam. The front of the white ship became shrouded in shimmering, dark blue.  
The impact made no sound, but if it had, BTS imagined it would’ve been the loudest thing he’d ever heard. A dark blue pulse wave emanated from the contact point, rippling across space like the very fabric of it had been broken and was flapping in a tearing wind. Orange fragments of light splintered in every direction, flying away from the planet. The shockwave hit them, shaking the ship; the tiger widened his stance, bracing against the blow. The beam’s light scattered, dissipating harmlessly into space.  
The air shook. “YOU ARE MISTAKEN.” Blue’s voice, combined with that of Aethon’s, called. “THIS WILL BE YOUR GREATEST FAILURE.”  
The white ship broke through the scattering of orange and blue light, curls of energy like smoke trailing from his wingtips. From beneath his fuselage, from a sturdy energy turret, a beam of sapphire-blue energy appeared, shooting towards the exposed firing apparatus. It pierced through the open muzzle of the structure, passing through the Composer harbored inside, through the components above and below it, through the platform it was held on, and into the slipspace void below, where it finally ended, with an impact so powerful BTS had to flop down on his belly to avoid falling.  
“She’s built Aethon some stronger weapons since I last saw him!” the tiger cried, aghast. An energy turret that shot dark blue - the darker the energy, the denser, and therefore more powerful, it was. The only energy weapons he knew of that could achieve such a feat were all theoretical.  
He yelped, celebrations cut off; something was grabbing him. Correction: the very-pissed off Didact was being a telekinetic asshole. The Forerunner had gotten back onto his feet (for the second time) and was not looking very pleased with the situation.  
“Buggering bastad, get off!” BTS snarled. The telekinesis dragged him a few inches off the ground before he broke free of it. The Chief was dragged off his back; he swiped at him, but missed the grab.  
“Put him down, you telekinetic bitch!” he growled, extending his wings. The Didact glared at him with enough rage to roast a chicken right out of its feathers.   
He needed to act quickly; there was no time to make a well-thought-through decision. He lunged, going for the Chief instead of the Forerunner. His vision doubled up, layering multiple senses into one. He saw bursts of energy travelling between the Didact and his catch, controlling his telekinetic activities. A larger burst exited the Didact’s fingers, the next counter to whatever the tiger was doing.  
He swiped his paw through the air, doing his best to aim his energy appropriately. He could feel his concentration being to waver. The burst passed through the telekinetic connections, momentarily disrupting them. The Chief dropped, and BTS caught his hand as he flew by. The Spartan grabbed on and pulled himself nimbly onto his back. They flew away from the Didact, the tiger quickly getting out of range of his telekinesis.  
He looked down; the slipspace portal beneath them was fluctuating. “Blue, whatever the heck Aethon shot into the Composer has destabilized the machine. It’s going to implode.”  
 _I’m aware,_ the Ascendant replied. _The Didact will escape if this occurs._  
“We need to stop him,” the tiger declared. “He can’t be allowed to escape. Not after what happened to Ivanoff Station.”  
 _His armor houses some sort of semi-independent intelligence that gives him his strengths,_ Blue said. _He will be impossible to defeat in time if he maintains his armor’s abilities. I can possibly disable them, but it will require physical contact to initiate, and afterwards I must remain outside the battle in order to concentrate. Aethon will not be able to join this fight after he drops me off; countering the Composer and using his hyperbeam have drained his systems too much. You must keep the Didact occupied until I can destroy his armor’s ancilla._  
BTS nodded. “We’ve got orders, Chief. Keep the big guy busy.”  
The Chief readied his weapon. “I can do that.”  
Aethon passed overhead, entering into the airspace of the ship. He was firing at the Didact, nothing heavy. The Forerunner seemed impervious to the light fire, shielding himself with an arm. He waved his other hand, conjuring up an anti-air cannon on a nearby platform. The ship rolled, dodging the fire, and passed over the hardlight bridge. BTS spotted a streak of silver detach from the underside, coming at the Didact from behind.  
Roaring, the tiger flew at the Didact. He knew the Forerunner could tell there were two people coming at him at once; Blue wasn’t using her supercloak, saving her energies for later dealings. The Didact ultimately chose to focus on all his enemies at once, because the guy was just ridiculously overpowered like that. BTS flew face-first into a wall of air, bouncing off it and landing on the hardlight bridge with a heavy thud.  
Blue had fared better, having better gauged the Didact’s telekinetic actions. She landed on the Didact’s shoulders, black wings flared out for balance. The Forerunner moved impossibly fast, shaking her off and swinging a fist into her stomach; she crumpled up as if injured by the attack, rolling off of him. Her movements brought her to fours, and she leapt off the edge of the bridge, flying away evasively.  
The Didact turned back to them. “That was your savior? The bringer of my purported failure?” He gestured to his foes. “Who are you to believe you can defeat the likes of me?”  
 _I’ve got the connection. Keep him busy._  
BTS lifted his gravity hammer. The Chief, next to him, aimed his weapon.   
“We’re just shipwreck friends,” the tiger said, and charged.   
In his moment’s rest, he’d been able to form a decent void bubble around himself, the edges glowing blue. The Didact’s telekinesis bounced off the shield, and he swung the hammer at the Forerunner, who blocked it with his arm. The tiger grunted, thrown off by the exchange of force. The hammer was unruly to try and wield for multiple swings at once. The Didact stumbled back, thrown off for barely a heartbeat.  
 _His armor adapts to counteract whatever weaponry he’s currently facing, Blue instructed him. Change up your attacks constantly. Any physical injury inflicted to him will also be repaired by the combat skin.  
Great, so he has no weaknesses. Thanks._  
He retreated, trying his best to keep the Forerunner from attacking the Chief. He couldn’t defend the Spartan and fight the Didact at the same time.  
He charged anyways, roaring. His swings of the gravity hammer became less and less impactful as the Didact’s armor developed resistance to it. The strikes, which would’ve killed a Knight on impact, merely kept the Didact on the defensive.  
“Aaaaaaaergh!” the tiger swung the hammer at his legs; the Forerunner jumped over it, kicking back. BTS jumped back, dodging. He swung the hammer again, and the Didact grabbed it, completely negating the strike. They remained locked for a moment, struggling for control.  
Shots whizzed past his ear; the Chief was firing at the Didact. The Forerunner glanced at him, immobilizing him yet again with that stupid telekinesis. The Chief’s weapon went clattering off the edge of the bridge, and the nuclear warhead rolled away in the other direction.   
BTS kicked both feet up, shrieking, battering the Didact in the stomach with his claws. The Forerunner’s fist struck his chest, pushing him backwards. The blow was impressive, like taking a hit from a hardlight blade. He tumbled back, just managing to land on his feet. The Chief was still stuck in the air behind him, floating like the universe’s weirdest balloon. The Didact seemed perfectly content to leave him there while he dealt with other, more serious threats.  
The tiger shook his head. _Man, I hate this guy._  
They clashed again; this time, they were broken apart not by each other’s blows, but by the ground below them shaking violently. They both briefly glanced down; the slipspace portal was beginning to shrink, heading towards implosion, and then quite possibly, explosion.  
 _We’re running out of time. Blue!  
I'm sorry, his ancilla is very strong!_  
The Didact lunged and struck BTS again. His shields broke, and a sound like shearing steel echoed in his ears. The gravity hammer clattered from his grip and bounced off the edge of the hardlight bridge. The Didact had grabbed his weapons arm, and judging by the repeated signals of “something is very broken” traveling up the limb, he had crushed his wrist in his grip, and his forearm was twisted, armor and skeleton deformed and useless. The Chief was still floating in the air, shields flashing erratically. And the Didact wasn’t even breaking a sweat.  
A ghostly whispering filled his ears. Apparitions were rising from the bridge, and it took BTS a moment to realize they were a bunch of Cortanas, staring intently at the Didact.  
“Your compassion for mankind is misplaced,” the Forerunner growled at the holograms.  
BTS exchanged a glance with the nearest Cortana, and nodded respectfully.  
“I’m not doing this for mankind,” she replied.  
The Cortanas jumped at the Didact, turning into streaks of light. Some of them absorbed into his armor, vanishing. Others formed glowing chains, anchoring the Forerunner to the bridge. He lost his telekinetic grip on the Chief, who fell back onto the bridge, gasping. He lost his real grip on BTS, who quickly limped to the Chief’s position. His red eyes remained fixed on the Didact.  
“You okay?” he asked the Chief worriedly.  
“Probably,” the Chief replied, sounding a little strangled.  
With an enraged cry, the Forerunner broke free of his chains. He lifted his hand for another attack, but suddenly stumbled, gasping.  
A silver flash appeared to his right, and Blue came speeding around one of the platforms, trailing a glow from the energy thrusters on her back. The Didact was reeling, seemingly in shock from something.  
The Ascendant landed on the hardlight bridge, between the Forerunner and his foes. Her earthshaker was held lightly in one hand, tilted off to her side. The Didact towered over her, even in his slouched state. He watched her with enraged eyes, breathing heavily.  
“Shadow-of-Sundered-Star,” she called. “I see now the creation of your destruction.”  
“Who are you?” the Didact snarled, now shaken by more than just the disablement of his ancilla. “How do you know that name?”  
“I am of those who came before you, but not the ones who made you,” the Ascendant replied. “I am of a people outside the plans of your creators, but not the plans of their creations. And, long ago, I chose to defend my people against yours. And today, I continue.”  
She leveled her earthshaker at the Didact. “Do not despair; you will be avenged.”  
Her earthshaker glowed with energy and fired a beam of light that pierced the Didact through, vaporizing everything it contacted. Blue reached her free hand towards the Forerunner, energy springing from her fingers. It melded with the earthshaker beam, entering into the Didact’s body. The Forerunner howled, hands grasping at the air. He was dissolving outwards from the strike zone, Blue’s control over his ancilla, and her will over the matter that made up his body, matter which was just another form of energy, turning his being into dust, and the dust into ash, and the ash into nothingness. The howling faded away into silence, and the severely-damaged armor fell to the ground, shattered and empty.  
Below them, the slipspace portal collapsed on itself. BTS felt the hardlight bridge lurch, and everything went black.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	26. 3.25: I've AlwaysBeen Bad at Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a difficult scene to write and feel like I got down what I wanted to. Goodbyes are always hard, and this one has a lot of negative emotions associated with it. And this scene, in the original game, was so well done in my opinion. I aimed to capture that kind of quality here, just the simplicity of its sorrow and how suddenly it all happened. Not a dramatic or emotional goodbye, but a startled and regretful one. And I wanted to write a bit from Aethon's POV too...despite being just as important as Blue and BTS, he never seems to get the spotlight very often. Downside of being a sentient spaceship, I guess.

3.25: I’ve Always Been Bad at Goodbyes

BTS had a splitting headache. He felt like the inside of his skull was being pounded on with a hammer. It was making everything around him seem purple.  
Oh wait, it was actually purple. Odd.  
He opened his eyes fully, wincing at the light. He appeared to be in some sort of hardlight bubble, laying on his side. The ground was cool, that strange sensation hardlight had of being both something and nothing at the same time. He lifted his head, rolling onto his belly. His broken leg clonked quietly against the hardlight floor, and the multitude of *something is broken, bro* signals began to poke at his consciousness again. He grimaced and sat up, tucking his elbow to his side, forearm dangling uselessly.  
Someone was walking towards him.  
“I must be dreaming,” he muttered, pawing at his head with the hand that wasn’t broken. “I’m seeing a human-sized Cortana walking towards me.”  
A familiar laugh reached his ears, and he shot to his feet like he’d been zapped. “Ok, this is too much. I can’t be dreaming, this all feels too real.” He swung his head around, eyes darting over the purple walls. “Am I dead? Is this purgatory or something?”  
“You’re not in purgatory,” Cortana replied. The tiger looked back to her upon hearing her voice. She was the height of a normal human now; he could just about look her in the eye. To be fair, she was still blue and glowy, but she looked...like a solid object instead of a hologram.  
“Then am I in hell?” he asked next.  
Cortana laughed again, shaking her head. “No, you’re alive. You’re in a hardlight bubble within the blast zone of the Didact’s ship.” She smiled earnestly. “We did it, BTS. We defeated the Didact.”  
“You...you saved my life,” the tiger replied quietly, piecing together his recent memories. “The ship imploded. And then probably exploded. And I’m-” he looked down at his paws, where he could see only the faintest of blue glow around the edges of himself. Holding his broken leg off the ground like a crippled stray dog. “Weak,” he finished, feeling like the word was choking him.  
“They’re all safe,” the AI told him. “Look around.”  
He complied, swiveling his head. Through the purple walls, he could see blurry shapes of the others; a small, silver streak for Blue, and, off to the side, the green blur that could only be the Chief.  
“Blue lent me her energy,” Cortana continued. “We fought the Didact together. We defeated him together. And I brought you all here.”  
BTS flattened his ears. “You’re not going to be able to come back with us, aren’t you?”  
The AI shook her head sadly. “Most of me is still with the ship. All I had left, I used to get you here. And even Blue can’t pull all the bits of me out of there.” She bowed her head a bit, hands folded in front of her. “I just spoke with her, actually. She was the first to wake up.”  
The tiger bowed his head, ears flattened, shoulders hunched. “I...I’m so sorry, Cortana. I could’ve done so much better.”  
“You have saved millions of people from conscription,” she replied, looking back up at him. “And you kept the Chief alive for all those years, when there seemed to be no hope left.”  
“I could have been nicer to you,” the tiger said in a small voice.  
Her voice was gentle. “My rampancy has nothing to do with you, BTS. It has nothing to do with anyone.”  
The tiger looked up at her with big, sad eyes, unable to say anything.  
Despite everything, when she smiled, she seemed sincere. “Your story...about being from the ancient times of the Forerunners, about your long-forgotten species, and these ‘Ascendants’...it’s not true, isn’t it?”  
BTS startled, eyes widening. A million denials raced through his head, but then he slumped, too tired to try and use one. And, well, it just didn’t seem fair to lie to Cortana in what was probably the last time he’d ever speak to her.  
“It’s not true,” he confirmed quietly. “We made up that backstory so the Covenant would accept us.” He shook his head. “We’re not from Forerunner times. I mean, we’re still decently old in terms of a human lifespan...but not nearly that old. And our - Blue’s - species isn’t extinct. And there have never been other Ascendants. She is the only known individual to have such unique powers.” He lifted his head, sorrow in his eyes. “But I’m still just an AI that Blue built. I was sassy, rude, and immature, and I had to learn the hard way that people won’t tolerate that behavior forever. I had to try really hard to become a better person. I never lied about any of that.”  
Cortana reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, and to his surprise, he could somewhat sense her touch. She was made of hardlight, just like everything else around them.  
“It’s alright,” she told him. “You were just following orders, like any good soldier. And Blue’s lie allowed her to save billions of lives from the Flood and the Great Schism.”  
“But it wasn’t her lie either,” BTS lamented, head down. “She was just following orders too. And now we are criminals to her people and her true home because we chose to save the Covenant instead of letting them tear themselves apart like we were supposed to.”  
“Don’t say any more,” Cortana ordered. “I don’t need to hear it.” She took her hand away, looking through the purple walls towards the green blur.  
She smiled sadly. “Take care of the Chief for me, will you?”  
BTS nodded mutely. He could only watch as the AI slipped through the purple walls and vanished.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Aethon didn’t see the world around him like the others did.  
He saw in many frames at once, three-hundred and sixty degrees around him, at all instants. He saw light and dark, but also energy, and sound, and heat. He saw the interior of himself, housing for his crew and his captain, storage for materials, and his holding bay that too often carried refugees. He could tell if anything, even the smallest of things, was off. All these senses of his overlaid each other, creating a fantastic matrix that he could instantly understand. Blue could understand it too, as could others, if he simplified it for them. He cared deeply for the people who he worked with, and loved to share his vast information and knowledge with them. There were so many things he was capable of.  
But there was nothing he wanted more at that moment than a set of arms, to wrap up his crew with and reassure them everything was going to be alright.  
BTS was huddled in a miserable pile in the corner of one of the bunkrooms, where he had locked himself and refused to come out from, even for repairs. Blue was in the cockpit, standing tall, hands clasped behind her back. She was looking out the windshield, towards Earth. But her gaze was somber and heavy.  
“I never thought we’d be here again, like this,” she said quietly.  
“Indeed,” Aethon replied agreeably. “Fate has a strange way of moving in circles.”  
Blue chuckled. “It’s not like we didn’t know what we were signing up for.”  
“It may not have come to this,” the ship reasoned. “But I had a feeling it might.”  
He sensed the approach of one of the Infinity’s Pelicans. “Blue, Pelicans approach.”  
The Ascendant nodded. “Prepare to dock. I’ll see him out.”  
The Chief was in Aethon’s cargo bay, sitting on one of the empty crates. Blue had invited him to the cabin, but he had declined. Perhaps that was an unusual response for him, someone usually agreeable with niceties, but following niceties for the sake of discipline had no use around one who could read minds.  
“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Aethon asked worriedly.  
Blue paused at the hatch to the hall. “Things are going to be different now. But I have hope we will be able to make the best of it.”  
She slipped through the hatch, sliding down the ladder. Aethon watched her walk down the halls, reaching the cargo bay. The Pelican pulled up to him, and he formed a tube of energy between the two ships, docking them together.  
_BTS,_ Blue was calling. The tiger’s ears twitched, and he didn’t move. She put her hands on her hips, looking behind her, up the hallway. _He’s leaving, BTS.  
I don’t want to. How can I?_  
Aethon buzzed unhappily to himself, unable to do much more than watch. “BTS?” he said into the bunkroom’s comms. “I think you should go see him…”  
“Cortana said it wasn’t my fault,” the tiger replied, sounding upset. “But what if he thinks it is?”  
“That’s ridiculous,” Aethon and Blue said at the same time.  
“Your pain is valid and monumentous,” the Ascendant said to him. “But you’re not the only one who’s hurt.”  
The tiger grumbled, and dragged himself to his paws. He plodded out of the bunkroom, shouldering the door open and walking heavily down the hallway with his pronounced limp. Aethon followed him up to the cargo bay; the tiger paused and gave himself a big shake before going in, putting some of that energy back in his step.  
Aethon’s cargo bay was open, the energetic docking umbilicus connecting it to the Pelican’s. The bottom of the umbilicus was solid, making a bridge. The Chief was standing in front of the shimmering tube, waiting.  
“Hey, Chief,” the tiger said quietly, walking up to the Spartan. “It’s...it’s been real. We kicked ass, I think.” He looked away. “Maybe I’ll have to stop by sometime. I mean, I bet you have cool friends. Cooler than me, at least.” He huffed nervously, giving Blue a brief and panicked look over his shoulder.  
“You and your allies are always welcome aboard High Charity, Chief,” the Ascendant said with a respectful nod. “I hope you may find the time to stop by in the future, to see the city in the light of peace and not war.”  
The Spartan nodded. “Maybe,” he said, without any hint towards his actual thoughts.  
BTS sat down heavily, watching him walk away across the bridge and into the Pelican. His ears were flat against his head, red eyes sad. The Pelican’s bay door reeled shut, and the dropship flew away, back towards Earth.  
Blue walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Cortana was proud of you, BTS. You fought a fight worth remembering. And so did she.” The Ascendant crossed her arms. “She helped me defeat and take over the Didact’s ancilla to weaken his defenses. Without her, I don’t think I could have done it in time.”  
“I would say you don’t understand how I feel,” the tiger muttered, “but I know you can see into my head.”  
Blue shook her head. “This is something you’re going to have to carry for the rest of your time. As will he. Even with telepathy, it is something only you two will truly understand.” She gestured out the now-empty cargo bay, to the darkness of space. “I encourage you not to hide from the negative emotions you feel. Isolation may seem the solution, but we are stronger together. And you two now share unforgettable memories.”  
BTS nodded. “Sure. But I’m bearing the scars now, too.”  
Aethon quietly closed his bay door. “Shall I set an interception course with High Charity, Blue?”  
She nodded. “Please do.” Her hand patted the tiger’s shoulder. “Come on, BTS. Let’s go home.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	27. 3.26: Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of this chapter is just recap, since BTS missed everything that happened in part 2, and all the stuff that happened between parts 2 and 3. So it's a bit lengthy and heavy on the talking. But a lot has changed and it's worth talking about! High Charity getting Flood-ified was always something that made me really sad - yes, sure, they're the enemy, but High Charity was full of a frick ton of civilians who certainly didn't deserve getting turned into Flood soup. Being able to save them, and their city, and trying to bring about a better state...yeah, that's really why I wrote these stories. I wanted to save High Charity and her billions of inhabitants. So I did.

3.26: Home

“So, what have you been up to in my absence? I see you’ve mastered the art of speaking most eloquently, like the Elites do.”  
Blue laughed. “Only when I need to be formal! But, to be fair, I do think many of their vocal habits are second nature to me now.”  
BTS was following the Ascendant through the docks of High Charity, where Aethon had dropped them off. The station had finally come to a stop after three days of deccelerating; dropping something of this much mass out of hyperspace had pretty unavoidable consequences.  
 _Hyperspace._ Blue had managed to find a way to build and install a working hyperspace drive on the station, one that was powerful enough to push the massive structure into hyperspace without suffering any failures. Aethon and her had manufactured all the necessary energetic parts, and left her mining teams to acquire the rest of the vast raw materials required. It had taken the better part of three-ish years to get the materials, build the parts, and finally assemble the thing. They had cored out much of the docking spire and replaced it with the absolutely massive hyperspace drive.  
And they were putting hyperspace drives on the station’s fleet, too. They were on the battlecruisers that had jumped to Earth to defend against the Mantle’s Approach, and that was just a small fraction of their total fleet.  
“I have been incredibly busy,” Blue answered the tiger’s question, sounding tired. “These people, as advanced as they are, were lacking in so much. There are encyclopedias worth of things they don’t even know about their own common technologies.” She grimaced. “I fought against old tradition, and convinced the majority that research was necessary, at least on our warfaring technologies. You could’ve asked the smartest shipmaster out there how his engines work, and he might not have been able to tell you.” She shook her head unhappily. “They adopted their technology from Forerunner relics, but never bothered to learn how they worked.”  
“So you’ve basically started a bunch of mad scientist labs and have them poking at stuff until something happens?” BTS asked dubiously.  
Blue chuckled. “Sort of. I’d say what they’re doing is a little more sophisticated than poking, but you have the general idea.”  
They boarded one of the dock’s transport systems; the others on the shuttle bowed their heads respectfully to the Ascendant and her companion. Blue nodded back to them, smiling.  
“We’ve been trying to better our weapons technology,” she continued. “You know there is much room to improve, especially on the internal power and cooling systems.”  
“No kidding,” BTS grumbled. “No Lupine warrior worth their title would be caught dead with a plasma weapon that overheats after normal use.”  
“We’ve been doing a lot of rebuilding as well,” Blue continued. “Much of the city was destroyed or damaged in all the fighting that happened during and after the Schism. It has given us lots of new space in which to work.”  
“I have a feeling you haven’t rebuilt things the way they were,” BTS chuckled, looking sideways at her.  
She smiled. “You know me well.” She put her hands up, gesturing to the outside. “We shall gaze upon it, BTS, for it is wondrous!”  
The shuttle stopped, allowing passengers to exit into the main grid of High Charity. Blue looked at BTS, and gestured to a nearby gravity lift.  
“Go on,” she said. “The view is best from up high.”  
BTS stepped onto the lift, floating upwards like a feather on a breeze. It brought him into one of the peripheral towers, and deposited him in the threshold of a wide balcony. He took a cautious step forwards, stretching his neck to peer over the railing. His red eyes widened, and a grin of wonder spread across his face.  
“Wow,” he breathed. “Last time I was here, I heard nothing but gunshots and screams. But now, I hear...music. Lively...human music?”  
“That would be the construction teams down by the livestock facilities,” Blue said, stepping up next to the tiger. “They use music to synchronize their work and make the job more joyful. And they really seem to enjoy many human tunes.”  
“Livestock?” BTS glanced at Blue. “That seems new.”  
“High Charity is now completely self-sufficient in terms of basic survival needs,” she replied proudly. “We grow all our own food in slipspace-bubble aquaponics systems and some traditional fields. The aquaponics systems are interlinked with the station’s recently-installed fisheries. The livestock facilities have existed for longer, but we’ve been expanding them.”  
“Is that a theater I see?” BTS asked dubiously, squinting at a structure in the distance.  
Blue chuckled. “Your eyes do not deceive you. That is the High Charity Theater, run and managed by our very own Sirsir.”  
“Sirsir runs the theater?” the tiger exclaimed. “You’re talking about that energetic Unggoy, right?”  
Blue nodded. “He has a knack for management, and loves drama in all its forms. When I first developed the theater idea, I went to the Unggoy for ideas. Their culture has a rich background when it comes to theater, much of which has unfortunately been lost to their ages in service with the Covenant.” She leaned against the railing, swishing her tail idly. “It provides a place of work for those who no longer wish to bear arms for their people. As do the labor groups, and other maintenance workers. But those are menial jobs, and there are many whose creativity and talent would be wasted swinging a hammer.”  
“How’s the government?” BTS asked, lowering his voice.  
“Better,” Blue replied. “We had to reorder the system, and unfortunately dealt with an upheaval that could’ve become very bloody very quickly. But, luck seemed to be in our favor, and we were able to weed out the guilty and send them on their way.” She shook her head again. “I did not like to sort my officers by political support, but the safety of our young nation depended on it. And I was as lenient and forgiving as possible.”  
“Well, it looks like you’ve done a good job to me,” the tiger said with a shrug. “Seems peaceful from up here.”  
The Ascendant nodded. “But the devil is always in the details.”  
“Blue!” a young-looking Sangheili came running up to them, holding a holographic tablet. BTS identified her by scent as female; she was also lacking formal combat attire, the first Sangheili he’d come across in that way. However, she carried a plasma pistol on her hip, and had enough of a glint in her eye for BTS to know she was no pushover.  
“Isa,” Blue greeted her with a smile and nod. “I don’t believe you’ve met BTS before. BTS, this is my personal assistant, Isa ‘Ayanam. She helps me keep track of all my duties and schedules.”  
Isa looked at BTS with big yellow eyes. “The black tiger! It is a pleasure to meet you. I am glad to see you are home and safe. Your absence was saddening to all.”  
BTs dipped his head. “I’m glad to be back too.” He glanced up at Blue. “Shipmaster ‘Ayanam’s little sister, I’d fathom?”  
She nodded. “Isa is a carrier of Sangheili dwarfism, but she is just as capable as any full-sized Sangheili. In traditional Sangheili culture, the women are only given basic combat training, and spend their lives dealing with family and keep matters. However, I have opened the ranks of High Charity to all genders, and the Arbiter has done so for the Swords of Sanghelios as well. Isa has helped me prove the ableness of her kin.”  
Isa ducked her head, looking a little embarrassed. “You prove every day the ableness of females, Blue. No male of any race can beat you in a fair fight!”  
“I’m a special case,” Blue chuckled. “Anyways, is everything set to depart?”  
Isa nodded. “The Huragok have finished their inspection of the flight systems and hyperdrive. Nothing has been damaged. The flight deck is ready for your command.”  
“You got Huragok?” BTS asked.   
“Four of them,” Blue replied. “And they are treated like royalty. The Council of Masters deduced that all serving members of the military are required to salute to a Huragok upon passing. And no one is above it, not even I. So,” she gave him a knowing look, “I hope you are alright with dipping that vain head of yours to a handful of nonspeaking individuals.”  
“I think I understand how important they are to this station,” BTS snorted, rolling his red eyes. “I’ve got no problem with it.”  
Blue nodded. “Good. Isa, tell the flight deck to commence a randomized jump sequence. We must return to our duties.”  
Isa dipped her head, typing on her tablet. “Right away, Blue.”  
“Randomized jump sequence?” BTS asked. “Doesn’t that seem a little...unnecessary?”  
Blue shook her head. “I wish it was. I wish it dearly. Walk with me, BTS. I will explain to you what has transpired over these last few years.”  
The tiger nodded and trotted after her; she broke from the railing and followed the walkway to where it left the tower and connected to the next one. The arched bridge housed small, ornamental gardens and places to observe the view over the city. Hidden ventilation provided the faintest of breezes, on which music continued to drift. The air smelled of energy and life.  
“The nation of humanity is at peace with High Charity and the Arbiter,” Blue began. “Our shaky alliance formed in the end of the Schism has held true. However, there are still those on both sides who do not wish to accept this peace. And High Charity, the old symbol of the Covenant’s power, is a target of many. We are trying our best to keep track of potential threats arising from other Covenant remnant groups, and watching for any who may become powerful enough to challenge us.”  
“You know a guy named Jul ‘Mdama then?” BTS asked.  
Blue nodded. “He leads one of the more dangerous remnant groups. He seems more interested in the destruction of humanity than starting a war against us, though. How did you come to hear of him?”  
“We got captured by some of his people,” BTS explained. “They brought us to Requiem, where we found the Didact. We stole their ship and were forced to crash-land on the planet. All those Covenant ships that were with the Didact, they were ‘Mdama’s.”  
“Interesting,” Blue mused. “We probably haven’t seen the last of that Elite. I suspect there is more to his story than is apparent.”  
“You’re not doing all this random jumping because of him, are you?” BTS asked dubiously. “He’s got nowhere near the fleet capable of taking on High Charity.”  
“It’s not because of him,” the Ascendant admitted. “While you were gone, a lot happened between us and humanity. I came to learn of a plot by the head of humanity’s Office of Naval Intelligence to destabilize the Arbiter’s control over Sanghelios. She had gathered a covert ops team called Kilo-Five who were selling weapons to the Arbiter’s enemies.” She looked sorrowed, armored eyebrows turning up. “Because of their meddling, a remnant group called the Servants of the Abiding Truth was able to launch an attack on the Arbiter’s keep in the state of Vadam. We helped repel the attackers, and the leader of the Servants was assassinated by a Kig-yar sniper during the confusion. Most of the Servant’s ships were shot down as well, though two of them escaped into slipspace. I have enough intel to believe that those ships have fallen into the hands of ‘Mdama.”  
“So you made some enemies,” BTS reasoned. “These Kilo-Five people? You think they’re trying to find the station?”  
“I have enough reason to,” she agreed. “We are a monumental threat to humanity’s control over galactic security. And they, Kilo-Five, see us as subhuman. To them, we are worth no more than livestock.” Anger crept into her voice. “They would utterly destroy the station without as much as blinking. They were fully prepared to unleash a bioweapon on Sanghelios, designed to cause the entire planet to starve.”  
BTS flattened his ears. “Wait, what?”  
“Admiral Parangosky, former head of ONI, was running a secret project on Forerunner Shield World 006,” Blue explained. “Her team was developing strains of native Sangheili grains and livestock that were indigestible. The genes were designed to be able to rapidly take over the natural stock, and render the planet unfarmable.” Her voice was cold. “Most of the people of Sanghelios have no other way to acquire food than to grow it themselves or buy it from neighbors. There is no other place they get food from, being a net exporter of crops and products. The majority of the population would have starved.”  
BTS flattened his ears. “That’s disgusting. She would’ve handwaved and had everyone on that planet die?”  
“Without a doubt,” Blue said heavily. “To commit genocide against the ones who had done the same to you is to make things equal, but nothing can ever justify the destruction of the innocent. And there is no remorse in her heart. She would see every last of us blown to pieces, and nod with satisfaction.”  
“You can understand why she’s so angry, though,” BTS grumbled.  
“Of course,” Blue said. “She wanted to repay the Sangheili with what the Covenant gave to humanity. She wanted to ensure humanity’s domination of the galaxy.” She dipped her head, looking at her hands. “But the people she wished to destroy do not wish the same to her, not anymore. They want peace. And I am here to ensure it.”  
“You think this Kilo-Five is a threat, though?” BTS seemed doubtful. “How could they be? It doesn’t sound like they have an army or anything. They’re just one group of people.” He sensed a change in the exterior; they were entering slipspace.  
“All they have to do is sneak somewhat close enough to the station and set off a nuke of similar payload to the one you had aboard the Mantle’s Approach,” Blue explained. “Humanity has developed weapons capable of vaporizing moons and splitting planets in two. While the biggest and baddest of these I doubt they could get their hands on, a HAVOK-grade warhead or something similar wouldn’t be that difficult to come across.” She grimaced, showing a sliver of teeth. “Kilo-Five pilots a ship that is practically invisible to Covenant detection technologies, so getting close enough to do considerable damage isn’t a farfetched thought either.” She inhaled deeply, shutting her eyes. “Parangosky has been disgraced and imprisoned because of me. Kilo-Five has been missing for over a year. They have lost everything, and I know they want to repay the favor.”  
“So you have been hiding all these years for a very good reason,” BTS concluded. “When we were contacted by the UNSC Infinity, they had mentioned that High Charity had been silent for the last few months. I was worried something had happened to you.”  
“We were just hiding,” Blue agreed. “Hiding and fulfilling our new duty: riding the galaxy of all remnants of the Flood.”  
“Oh?” BTS pricked up his ears. “That seems... interesting.”  
They entered another tower through arched, multipaneled sliding doors that opened with a pleasant “ding” when the motion sensor was activated. Blue gestured for him to follow her to a gravity lift that brought them lower in the tower, down to the level of the city.  
“The Floodguard are High Charity’s most respected warriors,” she said. “They are handpicked from a pool of applicants for their experience, skill, and mental fortitude. The chosen few are subjected to intense mental and physical training that not only teaches them how to safely destroy Flood matter, but how to deal with an outbreak. At the culmination of their training, they must go through a series of combat simulations. If they don’t pass the simulations, they can either retake the training course or drop the program.”  
“I would expect nothing less of warriors whose job is to deal with that repugnant parasite,” BTS growled. “I mean, I fought a Forerunner with a gravity hammer and got my leg broken. And the Flood killed those guys. It’s no laughing matter.”  
They were moving lower in the tower still, down a series of curved ramps. At the bottom, there was a series of three trenches, two with gondolas hovering at their ends. Blue hopped aboard a midsized, railing-bound platform that was levitating in the center lane.   
“This system’s relatively new; just recently, we got all the towers connected. High Charity lacks a central transportation system, save the gondolas between the docks and the main city. These towers are mostly for military mobilization. We still don’t have a good movement system for civilians, though. High Charity really wasn’t built with mass evac in mind.”  
Blue pressed a button, and the gondola departed from the platform. Instead of moving at the snail’s pace the Forerunner gondolas back on Requiem had, it gradually sped up until they were moving at a good clip through the tunnel. The interior was lit by blue strip lights, so the tunnel was only slightly darker than the platform was.  
“The infrastructure to create a more connected transport system currently doesn’t exist, and I don’t think it ever will,” Blue said. “These “blue-line trams” only go to the neighboring towers. The red-line goes to the center of the city; it’s a bigger platform than these ones are. We could only fit those lines on every other tower to prevent too much bulldozing through the Sangheili warrens and other living spaces. I wanted to build some aboveground trams within the city, but the proposal got backburnered, possibly indefinitely. There’s already so much going on, the Councils don’t want to take on more. And I’m not going to push them.”  
“I think you’ve done brilliantly,” BTS complimented. “In four years? This is a completely different place. Not just in the infrastructure, too.”  
The gondola slowed, docking at its destination platform. Blue jumped onto the platform and walked into a gravity lift, floating away without replying. BTS saw her smile to herself, though, knowing what he had meant.  
He followed her up to the lift, and became immediately aware of the music drifting down the hall of the tower.  
“Labor groups?” he asked.  
“Nope,” Blue said with a smile. “BTS, welcome to the High Charity Theater studio complex.”  
“Say whaaaaaaaaat?” the tiger exclaimed, tilting his head. “You mean you’ve got singing people down here?”  
She nodded. “We’re not just Unggoy folktales and comedy, my friend. We have talent from all the client species. We may be run by an Unggoy, but we aren’t exclusive.”  
The door in front of them dinged happily and opened, the music becoming much louder. A well-lit hallway was revealed, with multiple, small doors lining it. Each door had its own set of decorations, and upon closer inspection, names.  
“Performers can come to these places to practice and record,” she explained. “Some of these rooms are private and belong to a specific performer or group. They’re apartments, really. See those lights above the doors?” She pointed at what looked like a warning light above each door. “If it’s red, the person inside is recording and absolutely must not be disturbed, except in emergencies. But this one’s not, so we’re free to interrupt.”  
She extended her arm and knocked on the first door, from which a deep, bellowing voice was belting out what sounded suspiciously like rap lyrics. The singing stopped, and BTS heard heavy feet come towards the door. The door slid open, revealing a towering Jiralhanae. The sight was so unexpected that he took a step back, instinctively tensing.  
“Hey there, little sis!” the Jiralhanae rumbled in smooth English, leaning on the door. “Oh, lookee! You got your friend back!”  
“I did, thank you very much,” Blue replied. “BTS, this is Flo Ridus. And before you have a moment to say something rude, that’s his stage name, not his real name.”  
“I was going to ask nicely,” the tiger grumbled, flattening his ears. Ridus chuckled.  
“Stage names are for safety purposes,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d never see the end of all the ladies coming to my apartment!” He grinned to himself, showing off craggy teeth. While BTS had to admit the guy was very muscular, the mix of greasy gorilla hair and rhino-like skin was definitely not to his tastes. Plus, the guy was wearing a gold chain, what seriously looked like ripped jean shorts, and an old piece of Jiralhanae armor over them. The thing looked like it had been painted over the original colors. Long story short, weird fashion statement.  
“Yeah sure!” a voice from behind them crowed. The door across the hall slid open, revealing a female Kig-Yar wearing some sort of dress-like outfit. It was a mix of fashionable and practical, still allowing a full range of movement for the wearer. It reminded BTS of some kind of “warrior princess” costume.  
“You have no girls to get,” she said in an accented, raspy voice. “You are a sad, lonely man. And your Unggoy raves are lies.”  
“No they aren’t!” Ridus replied. “You’re just jealous of my awesome fans!”  
“BTS, this is Zen,” Blue introduced the Kig-Yar. “She and Ridus do a lot of collabs together. They’re absolutely brilliant, the two of them. So Ridus’ awesome fans...are also Zen’s awesome fans.”  
“I’m the brains, he’s the brawn,” Zen said, pointing at herself, then Ridus. “He has but two brain cells.”  
“Rude,” Ridus called. “Rude Zen.”  
“Whatever,” the Kig-Yar muttered, leaning against the doorframe and inspecting her fingernails.  
“We’ll leave you two,” Blue chuckled. “Come on, BTS. I don’t think any of the other producers are around right now, but Sirsir might be.”  
Sirsir…” BTS pondered as they walked away from the bickering duo. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually met the guy, just heard you talking about him. The little spunky Unggoy from ‘Ayanam’s ship, right?”  
“Shipmaster ‘Ayanam to you,” Blue reminded him, “and yes. He’s the manager of the theater. Everything that happens here, he has a say in. And he does a fantastic job.”  
“He’s got an office down here?” BTS asked, looking around.  
Blue shook her head. “No, he’s up in the tower, above the theater.”  
The tiger was silent, following her as she walked towards the lift. His thoughts were brooding. He looked up to see Blue watching him, over her shoulder.  
“Do you…like it?” she asked almost tentatively.  
“What?” he was caught off guard. “Oh, yeah, I like it. It’s really cool…and ingenious, almost.” He struggled to link words together. “You’ve brought people together over this. Kig-Yar working for and with an Unggoy? A Jiralhanae who can rap?”  
“And a Kig-Yar who can sing, a group of Unggoy laborers who do shows on the side, and much more,” she added. She looked down at her hands. “I…this place means so much to me. It’s the old Lupine theaters, the arenas, all over again. And it’s brought people together all on their own, without my guidance. Old boundaries don’t exist here, and it’s helping to dissolve them everywhere else.” She stopped before the lift and turned to face him. “I need your help to protect this place, BTS. I need your extra set of eyes and claws. We’re not just under physical threat, but cyber too. Kilo-Five has an AI with them, one who is cunning and just as cruel as they. If he gets into High Charity’s systems, he could destroy us from the inside.” She looked up from her hands. “I’ve been trying my hardest to get good firewalls installed, but their networks just aren’t built for it. Even if Kilo-Five can’t get themselves a bomb, which is unlikely, if they get that AI aboard the station, we’re done for if he can’t be contained.”  
“What about Aethon?” the tiger asked. “He caught Cortana.”  
“Cortana didn’t have deadly intentions,” Blue said. “In the time it took to catch her, she could’ve shut off power to portions of the station, opened airlocks, and disrupted reactors. Nothing’s guaranteed, but it’s a risk I don’t want to take.” Her gaze was almost pleading. “I need your help, BTS. And I know that you’re torn. You’ve spent the last four years of your life here protecting Cortana and the Chief. And now she’s gone, and the Chief is alone. You’re the only person that shared that experience with him. And I can tell you still feel some obligation towards him.”  
“It would do Cortana’s memory no good if I stood by and let him die from something I could’ve prevented,” the tiger said quietly. He shook his head. “It just feels...it just feels like we did so much, and went through so much, and tried so hard to make things work, but in the end...what we did really didn’t seem to matter. We lost Cortana, despite everything we did...”  
Blue crouched, putting her hands on his shoulders. “I understand, BTS. Believe me, I do. But the Chief can take care of himself. The universe is still dangerous, but it’s not like it was before. And he’s in good hands, especially since that ass Parangosky is out of power and respect.” She bared her teeth slightly. “She believes the Spartan-IIs are “antiquated” and should be retired. After all the work they’ve done, she would discard them like army surplus.”  
BTS felt an angry ball develop in his stomach. “She’s not the only one who believes that. You had a chance to meet Captain Del Rio?”  
“Briefly,” Blue replied. “Didn’t seem like a fan favorite to me.”  
“He’s an asshole,” the tiger muttered, scratching the ground with a paw. “He called the Chief delusional and wanted to destroy Cortana. He was also rude to me.”  
“Believe me, not everyone on this station is all hunky-dory with this situation either,” Blue said somberly. “I’ve had to deal with plenty of raging individuals. But that’s just how it is. And it’s so much better than it was four years ago. We’ve come so far, and I don’t want to lose this now.”  
“I don’t want you to lose this either,” BTS agreed. “I’ve yet to see most of this place, but I bet it’s awesome. Cause you made it.” He looked at her squarely, inhaling. “I’ll help you protect this place. Don’t worry about me.” He kept the doubt out of his voice, but he couldn’t keep it out of his mind.  
But Blue wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him anyways. Whether she could sense his doubt or not, it didn’t seem to matter. “Thank you, BTS.”  
“I think I’m going to need some upgrades though, if I’m going to be fighting these guys,” he mentioned coyly.  
Blue withdrew her hug and eyed him at an arm’s length. “You’re due for some upgrades indeed, mister. I don’t want you becoming jealous of Aethon. Plus, your hyperdrive is going to need a healthy dose of fixing if you ever want it to work again.”  
The tiger grinned. “That too. I sure missed it while floating around in the middle of nowhere.”  
She patted his shoulder. “Come on, BTS. I’ve got plenty more to show you.” She stood up.  
The tiger shuffled his feet a bit. “You really love this place, don’t you? And all its people?”  
Blue paused. “You could say that they’ve grown on me,” she replied cheerily. “I’ve met so many unique and interesting individuals, and have learned so many things.” She smiled, sincerely. “I even had the honor of visiting ‘Ayanam’s keep, and meeting his family.”  
The tiger nodded. “You really care about them too, even though they aren’t part of this station.”  
“Well, of course,” the Ascendant replied. “Two of their own, Isa and Roc...they’re my best friends.” She was smiling, so gently. “Roc ‘Ayanam was the first person of this world that I ever trusted. And since, he has only proven himself as loyal, reliable, intelligent, and fully capable of the changes I want these people to make.” Her voice was full of appreciation and joy. “He’s not all business, either. He cares for his family and his sister, and we can walk together, and dine together...like friends and not like soldiers.”  
The tiger nodded again, tilting his head a little. “You really care about him, don’t you?”  
Blue was still smiling. “Yes, I suppose I do,” she said.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
_Things will not be as they were. We are not yet done here. But, for now, we will rest._  
~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! There of course must be a part 4 to this, but it's not something I could write until Halo: Infinite releases. And even after that, I don't think it's realistic that I will get to writing it, not with another four years of school about to start. This part at least leaves off in a bit of a decent place, though as you can probably imagine, the implications of Cortana being alive in Halo 5 (and not only alive, but angry and quite possibly evil) are potentially devastating for the world I have set up. And the problems of the 'Ayanam family must be resolved, and Kilo-Five must be reckoned with. There is plenty left, so I apologize to anyone who might be sad about not getting more to read! I'm really thankful for anyone who's made it this far. Y'all are awesome.


End file.
